Home > News > Improving Behavioral Health Screening and Access to Treatment for Veterans in Community Care
This project sought to better identify veterans seeking care and improve behavioral health screening. Obstacles in identifying veteran status include confusion about eligibility, veterans utilizing non-Veteran Affair (VA) services to avoid stigma, and distance to the nearest VA-eligible provider. The project aims to screen all patients at Community Health Centers of Southeastern Iowa for veteran status using a standardized method to ensure patients receive timely behavioral healthcare.
By carefully phrasing the screening question regarding veteran status, the project has successfully increased the percent of total patients identified as veterans from 0.32% (56 individuals) in 2015 to 3.14% (555 individuals) in 2019.
Learn more by reading the full report.