The Veterans Administration’s Draft Strategic Plan for 2014-2020 emphasizes self-care, preventive services, primary care, and mental health services. One important goal is to eliminate the disability claims backlog by 2015. At that time, a robust plan will be implemented to ensure that claims are addressed in no more than 125 days with at least 98 percent accuracy.
The disability claims plan includes redesigning policies and procedures, enhancing training for claims processors, and using the most advanced IT. At the same, the VA will increase the use of video teleconferencing when hearings involve claims appeals.
The VA plans for IT will address emerging information security challenges especially with increased information sharing and mobile devices. The VA will continue to implement and extend the Continuous Readiness in Information Security Program operating model to protect VA sensitive information.
The VA has plans to implement their Unified Communications Strategy to reduce their IT footprint by converging video and audio conferencing into a single platform and operational model. The VA is also going to continue to implement their wireless infrastructure with strategies to support using these devices.
The VA will continue to use and plans to expand the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) team approach to enable veterans to partner with their healthcare team. The VA will also use tools to improve patient-facing and clinician-facing e-health systems by expanding the use of health-related virtual modalities to include telehealth, E-Consult, secure messaging, MyHealtheVet, and mobile applications.
The primary goal for the VA is to capture client data once, share the data enterprise wide, and use the data for a lifetime. In addition, the VA will gain access to additional external data, knowledge, and experiences to broaden the understanding of veterans’ needs. The VA also has plans to streamline its virtual presence in terms of web sites, portals, and call centers to enable clients to get information that they need on their schedule.
The VA plans to increase partnership opportunities with non-profits, academic affiliates, states, tribal organizations, and private sector organizations to help supplement VA services and fill urgent or emerging gaps in services.
Go to www.va.gov/performance/docs/VA2014StrategicPlanDraft20130808.pdf to view the “Department of Veterans Affairs FY 2014-2020 Strategic Plan”.