VAMC options for Veterans to communicate with the VA

mmiddaugh commented 3 years ago

Problems to be solved

There are a growing number of ways for Veterans to connect with clinicians for health related needs. It may be confusing for Veterans to find the right one for their needs and/or differentiate between the tools.

New options for contacting the VA are becoming available and need to be added to the VAMC pages. Before we can determine the right experience for Veterans, we need to understand both the individual options and the landscape

Background

The following options are in addition to

Phone numbers
Crisis Line
Mental health phone numbers

Both the crisis line and the display of mental health phone numbers are legislatively mandated and need to remain on the site. (The location of the numbers might be adjusted if recommended.)

VA health chat (Discovery effort in #27686)

SME: Kathleen Frisbee (Kathleen.Frisbee@va.gov), manages VA Health Chat
Wilmington is one of the pilot sites
National experience (open in browser or in app)
Chat live with a clinician for issues such as
- Medical advice for a minor injury or illness
- Medication questions
- Lab/imaging test results
VA health chat

Link to health chat discovery

Secure messaging (Discovery effort in #27687)

SME: Patrica Henry - Product Owner (Patricia.Henry@va.gov)
SME: Tracey Martin (Tracey.Martin@va.gov), My HealtheVet coordinator
async service for non-urgent, non-emergency health-related questions, such as
- Providing updates on one's condition
- Requesting VA referrals, test results, and prescription renewals
- Managing appointments
- Asking routine administrative questions
Response time ~24 hours
Secure messaging

Link to secure messaging discovery

VA health connect (Discovery effort in #27688)

SME: Rick Fox
Clinical contact center
24 hours live by phone
Regional phone numbers (mapped to health system)
slow roll-out, will be available nationwide

Potential considerations for options for displaying on VAMC

Present at facility or system level?
Include with phone number for location?
Present within accordions?
Program page (like care coordinator?)
What information should be displayed to help Veterans understand when to use option/what to expect?
How to handle locations without the service

Questions

What is the right experience for Veterans?
What do they need to know about each service?
How is it different than the other options?
Where does each option fit within the Veteran journey?
What is the situation the Veteran is in when he/she uses the service?

mmiddaugh commented 2 years ago

department-of-veterans-affairs / va.gov-team