The Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department have appropriate protocols for treating service members and veterans with mental health problems but the departments — and the health care system nationwide — must beef up programs so troops are guaranteed access now and in the coming years, says a Rand Corp. researcher who oversees the Washington think tank’s Center for Military Health Policy Research.
Center Director Terry Tanielian wrote in an AcademyHealth blog posting on Monday that the Defense Department and VA must take steps to ensure care, including hiring more mental health care professionals, reducing the stigma and adverse career consequences of seeking treatment, and providing mental health treatment wherever service members or veterans live.
Part of the solution, Tanielian said, is to expand cooperation with civilian providers and train the civilian system to accommodate former service members.
“Improving access to mental health services for veterans will require reaching beyond DoD and VA health care systems to ensure quality care in the civilian world as well. Too often, policy decisions have focused on expanding capacity without attention to the quality of service being offered,” she wrote.
The assessment comes at a time when veterans and service members are seeking help in record numbers. In fiscal 2010, 408,167 veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder were treated at VA health facilities, up from 254,930 in fiscal 2006. About 1.2 million veterans received mental health care from the VA in fiscal 2010. Yet according to Rand, that still accounts for only about half of those diagnosed with PTSD or major depression. And half of those who do seek care don’t complete treatment, according to a survey of VA health providers.
Tanielian is to moderate a panel on the future of military and veterans health care at the 2012 National Health Policy Conference scheduled for February in Washington. She was a main contributor to the Rand report, The Invisible Wounds of War.
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