VA holds town hall meeting at the Nolan Center

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a federal agency that works to care for the nation's veterans. The VA offers eligible veterans healthcare, as well as other non-medical benefits such as memorial benefits and disability payments. The state of Alaska is home to somewhere between 75 to 90,000 veterans, according to Alaska VA Healthcare System Director Dr. Timothy Ballard. Of these, however, he said that maybe only 36,000 are signed up and receiving their VA benefits, and they only see about 24,000 in their clinics. To expand the VA's services to as many veterans as possible, Ballard said they have been holding quarterly town hall meetings in rural communities, to provide information and to discuss some changes happening within the system.

"The big thing is we're trying to expand our outreach in Alaska," he said. "We don't think there's enough Alaskans that are using our services and, obviously, our budget can be related to how many veterans are signed up. So it's important for us to not only do outreach to get veterans who may need our services but also to continue growing what resources are available for Alaskans."

A little over 20 veterans and their family members attended the town hall meeting. Ballard opened the meeting by talking about what kinds of changes have been going on in the VA's healthcare system since he became Alaska's system director two and a half years ago. According to a 2016 national survey of the best places to work in the country, the Alaska VA Healthcare System was ranked 125 out of 130 for "staff satisfaction." This survey came to his attention only a few weeks into his job, Ballard said, so improving the system's staffing issues became a big priority for him. Last year, he said, they hired 189 new staff members. In total there are 705 people working in the Alaska VA Healthcare System. They have also recruited about 30 new providers for priority care and mental health, he said, to ensure that every veteran who presents himself or herself to a VA facility in the state has access to the care they need. The next year the survey came out, Ballard added, the system jumped from 125 to 73, and as of last fall were ranked number 20. Ballard also said that he attended a national conference for the VA on patient experience with the VA. At this conference, Alaska was named "most improved" for patient experience in the entire country.

Ballard also informed the audience that the VA healthcare system will be receiving funding from a new source: The Mission Act. The system was funded under the Choice Program from 2014 to 2018, Ballard said, but had numerous problems. The Mission Act, which will take effect this June, is designed to streamline payments and purchase care outside of VA facilities for veterans. Ballard also pointed out that Alaska will stand alone as its own independent healthcare region, and not be tied to the Pacific Northwest or the west coast. That means people coming to take care of Alaskan veterans will only be caring for Alaskan veterans. Other regions will not be pulling their attention away.

"What that means for you is, hopefully, nothing," he said. "Nothing will change, and here's why. Our staff are still going to coordinate the appointments, it's not going to be a new contractor. As of right now, for the next year, TriWest will still be the bill payer for all of those referrals, and we will continue using TriWest to do that for the next year."

Included in this new program is that veterans will be

authorized three urgent care visits a year for free. After three, he said, veterans can still visit urgent care but there may be a co-pay associated with it. There are also changes to chiropractic/acupuncture care, he said. Veterans with acute injuries requiring a chiropractor or acupuncturist for care will be allowed 12 visits within the first 90 days of the injury flaring up or worsening, then 16 visits through the rest of the year after the injury is brought back to its baseline, he explained.

After going through some changes happening in the VA, Ballard shared with the public ways they can get more help or information. In his two and a half years as director, he said, he has spoken at 120 town hall meetings. The number one complaint from veterans that he hears, he said, was a lack of information. So, he said, the Alaska VA Healthcare System has created a "one stop shop" for information. Veterans in need of information can call (907) 257-5463 to get their questions answered, instead of playing phone tag with facilities all across the country. They can also send an email to alaskaquery@va.gov. Veterans can also register for text alerts to remind them of

appointments under the VEText program. Signups can be made at http://www.myhealthevet.gov.

"I know from personal experience, only two years ago, that navigating the VA system, even though I'm the director, is very hard," Ballard said. "And I know you all struggle with it one way or the other, trying to get your benefits, and I think it's important we try and do something different for Alaskans."

Near the end of the town hall, Ballard opened the floor for questions. One of the first questions was whether or not Wrangell had a local doctor that will take care of VA patients. Ballard said he does not have a VA employee in Wrangell, but the VA does have a tribal sharing agreement. Any tribal clinic in any town in Alaska will see non-native veterans. He also said that the VA also has a partnership with SEARHC. A woman pointed out that Dr. Lynn Prysunka, of Wrangell was her husband's Choice Program doctor. Ballard replied that if there is a Choice doctor in Wrangell, they will still be available under the Mission Act.

Other members of the public spoke up about having a hard time getting information from the VA due to their addresses not showing up in the system. Local resident and veteran Terry Sherer said it might have something to do with many Wrangell residents having P.O. boxes as their mailing address, and not a physical address for their homes. Ballard said that the mapping system the VA uses is known to have trouble with addresses in rural areas like Wrangell, but that his staff was happy to work a little harder and work with veterans to help find the information they needed and correct missing information where they could.

"Sometimes it's hard to navigate the VA system because it really does require somebody who's involved with it to be able to help walk them [veterans] through the process," Ballard said.