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Team members are knowledgeable about the specialty care resources available within their facility. The teams at each facility are dedicated to connecting with Veterans quickly to improve scheduling timeliness.
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This is making the referral and appointment process easier than ever.” Ilem, our RCTs are providing Veterans with information about their options before they decide where to receive care, in VA or the community.
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“We want to empower Veterans to make more informed decisions about when, where and how to receive their health care,” said Mark Upton, M.D., and acting assistant under secretary for health for Community Care. RCTs simplify the process when a Veteran’s health care provider refers them to another provider, whether in VA or in the community. One reason the process was easier is because VA is using Referral Coordination Teams (RCTs). Even when I left a message because I needed to reschedule the original appointment because of changes at work, she called me back the same day and helped me get it rescheduled.” Referral Coordination Teams “The coordinator called and made it easy. “My primary care provider said someone from the coordination team would reach out to help me schedule an appointment,” she said. She received prompt, courteous service from her VA medical center’s new Referral Coordination Team. To her surprise, she had a very positive experience. “I would have preferred to wait for an appointment in VA but that just wasn’t possible in this situation.”
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“When my provider told me that I needed to be seen in the community, I wasn’t sold on the idea,” she admitted. Ilem has received her medical care from VA for the past 25 years and was a bit skeptical at first. VA medical center, her primary care provider referred her to a specialist in the community for her annual mammogram. During Army Veteran Joy Ilem’s recent visit to the Washington, D.C.
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