Duty to Assist Veterans with Exposures to Hazardous Materials
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Share PrintOur mission is to educate and connect Veterans with a presumptive condition associated with exposures to hazardous materials during military service. This practice will not only bring in new Veterans to the VHA, but will also connect existing Veterans to additional benefits. Our goal is to bridge the gap between the VBA and the VHA to better serve our nation's heroes.
Origin:
January 2020, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Cleveland, Ohio)
Adoptions:
1 successful
Awards and Recognition:
Diffusion of Excellence Promising Practice
Recent Updates
Overview
The problem
During community outreach events, outreach coordinators recognized Veterans were not aware of their entitlement to service connected benefits for presumptive conditions associated with Agent Orange and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. In addition, established Veteran patients were not aware of the importance for adding new diagnoses to existing service co
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During community outreach events, outreach coordinators recognized Veterans were not aware of their entitlement to service connected benefits for presumptive conditions associated with Agent Orange and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. In addition, established Veteran patients were not aware of the importance for adding new diagnoses to existing service connected benefits, and were not aware of new presumptive conditions enacted by Congress.
Goals:
•Increase Veteran awareness of presumptive conditions associated with Agent Orange exposure and Camp Lejeune water contamination
•Increase provider awareness of presumptive conditions associated with Agent Orange exposure and Camp Lejeune water contamination
•Aid Veterans in navigating the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), and Veterans Service Commission (VSC); essentially tying the three organizations together. See more
Goals:
•Increase Veteran awareness of presumptive conditions associated with Agent Orange exposure and Camp Lejeune water contamination
•Increase provider awareness of presumptive conditions associated with Agent Orange exposure and Camp Lejeune water contamination
•Aid Veterans in navigating the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), and Veterans Service Commission (VSC); essentially tying the three organizations together. See more
The solution
A joint collaborative effort between Outreach and Oncology was created to educate and connect Veterans with presumptive conditions associated with Agent Orange and Camp Lejeune with healthcare and benefits. At community outreach events, outreach coordinators educate Veterans with presumptive conditions of their eligibility to VHA oncologic care and potential
...
A joint collaborative effort between Outreach and Oncology was created to educate and connect Veterans with presumptive conditions associated with Agent Orange and Camp Lejeune with healthcare and benefits. At community outreach events, outreach coordinators educate Veterans with presumptive conditions of their eligibility to VHA oncologic care and potential benefits. If Veterans are interested, their information is given to the cancer access coordinator to establish the Veteran with VHA for oncology care.
Simultaneously, the cancer access coordinator would review the Cancer Registry on a monthly basis to identify Veterans newly diagnosed with cancers that were considered a presumptive condition of Agent Orange/Camp Lejeune. Veterans were then called to assess their military service history. Veterans who served during the Vietnam Era or were stationed at Camp Lejeune were then provided a warm handoff to the community outreach coordinators who reviewed potential benefits eligibility. Veterans were then referred to their local VSC to initiate the benefits application process.
Following the addition of bladder cancer to the presumptive conditions list, mailers were developed to expedite the process and increase efficiency and Informatics and Analytics were recruited to aid in screening efforts. The cancer access coordinator continues to review the Cancer Registry monthly and creates a list of all Veterans with diagnoses associated with the presumptive conditions. The list is then sent to Informatics and Analytics to identify Veterans who served during Vietnam or were stationed at Camp Lejeune. This list is then used to send mailers to Veterans. The mailers include the importance for filing for benefits, conditions associated with exposures and contact information for additional assistance.
Along with these efforts, eligibility screening checklists were created and distributed throughout the medical center to increase provider awareness of not only presumptive conditions, but also basic eligibility criteria and who to contact for additional information. Presentations were also given to key departments to keep providers informed of new changes enacted by Congress. See more
Simultaneously, the cancer access coordinator would review the Cancer Registry on a monthly basis to identify Veterans newly diagnosed with cancers that were considered a presumptive condition of Agent Orange/Camp Lejeune. Veterans were then called to assess their military service history. Veterans who served during the Vietnam Era or were stationed at Camp Lejeune were then provided a warm handoff to the community outreach coordinators who reviewed potential benefits eligibility. Veterans were then referred to their local VSC to initiate the benefits application process.
Following the addition of bladder cancer to the presumptive conditions list, mailers were developed to expedite the process and increase efficiency and Informatics and Analytics were recruited to aid in screening efforts. The cancer access coordinator continues to review the Cancer Registry monthly and creates a list of all Veterans with diagnoses associated with the presumptive conditions. The list is then sent to Informatics and Analytics to identify Veterans who served during Vietnam or were stationed at Camp Lejeune. This list is then used to send mailers to Veterans. The mailers include the importance for filing for benefits, conditions associated with exposures and contact information for additional assistance.
Along with these efforts, eligibility screening checklists were created and distributed throughout the medical center to increase provider awareness of not only presumptive conditions, but also basic eligibility criteria and who to contact for additional information. Presentations were also given to key departments to keep providers informed of new changes enacted by Congress. See more
Files
- Screening assessment for potential exposure to Agent Orange during Vietnam Agent Orange Exposure Eligibility Screening Chart
- Screening assessment for potential expsoure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune Camp Lejeune Contaminated Water Exposure Screening Chart
- Mailer sent to Veterans who may meet basic eligibility criteria based on diagnosis and military service history Agent Orange Mailer
- Mailer sent to Veterans who may meet basic eligibility criteria based on diagnosis and military service history Camp Lejeune Mailer
The results
Since project initiation, the Cancer Registry lists 1122 Veterans newly diagnosed with cancer at the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System. Of those, 744 have been diagnosed with cancers associated with Agent Orange or Camp Lejeune water contamination exposures. 472 Veterans were identified as potentially meeting initial eligibility criteria based on their se
...
Since project initiation, the Cancer Registry lists 1122 Veterans newly diagnosed with cancer at the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System. Of those, 744 have been diagnosed with cancers associated with Agent Orange or Camp Lejeune water contamination exposures. 472 Veterans were identified as potentially meeting initial eligibility criteria based on their service history, and have been contacted to notify of their potential eligibility for additional healthcare and benefits. This number includes 135 Veterans diagnosed with bladder cancer within the last two years who were also sent mailers notifying them of the addition of bladder cancer to the presumptive list in Jan 2021.
Providers within primary care, oncology, urology, radiation oncology, general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and nursing service were provided eligibility screening charts and copies of the mailer to also distribute to Veterans. See more
Providers within primary care, oncology, urology, radiation oncology, general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and nursing service were provided eligibility screening charts and copies of the mailer to also distribute to Veterans. See more
Files
- Graphic representation of data results AO/CL Results
Metrics
- # of Veterans educated on the presumptive conditions and connected to healthcare and benefits
Diffusion tracker
Does not include Clinical Resource Hubs (CRH)
Implementation
Timeline
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Week 1
Identification of project team members, reviewing the cancer registry and extracting those diagnosed with presumptive conditions. Also compiling a list of local VSC's contact information to include in mailer -
Week 2
Recruiting informatics and analytics to scrub list to identify Veterans who served during Vietnam Era or stationed at Camp Lejeune. Disseminate information to key providers/departments -
Week 3
Send mailers and make calls to Veterans -
Week 4
Responding to Veterans phone calls/emails and directing them to the appropriate personnel to assist with benefits application -
Month 6
Reviewing data to evaluate project success
Departments
- Social work
- Cancer care
- Hematology/Oncology
- Eligibility
- Whole health
- Benefits
- Claims
Core Resources
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About
Origin story
Outreach coordinators, Stephen Wilson and Will Berry, at the Cleveland VA Medical Center, recognized many Veterans at outreach events were not aware of their potential entitlement to benefits and healthcare related to presumptive conditions associated with Agent Orange and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. The coordinators reached out to the cancer access
...
Outreach coordinators, Stephen Wilson and Will Berry, at the Cleveland VA Medical Center, recognized many Veterans at outreach events were not aware of their potential entitlement to benefits and healthcare related to presumptive conditions associated with Agent Orange and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. The coordinators reached out to the cancer access coordinator, Ashley Snyder, and a joint collaborative effort was established to identify and reach out to Veterans recently diagnosed with cancers on the presumptive condition lists.
Original team
Ashley Snyder
Cancer Access Coordinator
Will Berry
Outreach Coordinator, Public Affairs
Comment
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