VA-DoD Joint Venture Wins Federal Executive Team Award
May 13, 2014
CHARLESTON, SC – The Lowcountry Federal Healthcare Alliance won the Federal Employee of the Year Team Award today for its collaboration to provide shared health care services to Veterans and DoD beneficiaries, improving access, continuity of care and cost efficiencies for care delivery. The award is sponsored by the Greater Charleston Area Federal Executive Association.
The Lowcountry Federal Health Alliance (LFHA) is one of only 12 VA-DoD Joint Venture Sites in the U.S. This voluntary partnership, started in 2006, was established voluntarily by Naval Health Clinic Charleston, Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, 628th Medical Group and Naval Hospital Beaufort. The partner organizations have completed multiple Joint Incentive Fund projects that have improved access for patient care and resulted in significant cost savings and cost avoidances for the government. These include a joint Optometry and Ophthalmology Clinic at Joint Base Charleston-Weapons that provided more than 10,000 episodes of care for Veterans, active duty, dependents and military retirees yielding a cost avoidance of more than $1M so far, and two mobile MRI units located at Naval Health Clinic Charleston and Naval Hospital Beaufort. LFHA is currently implementing two more Joint Incentive Fund projects – a shared physical therapy clinic at Naval Health Clinic Charleston, and a shared dermatology clinic at Naval Hospital Beaufort.
“We are incredibly proud of our track record for successful collaborations which has been recognized by both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. And we are especially proud to be serving our heroes who have sacrificed so much for our freedom,” said CAPT Marvin Jones, Commanding Officer, Naval Health Clinic Charleston and LFHA chairman.
VA also has two clinics co-located with DoD. VA’s Goose Creek clinic is co-located with Naval Health Clinic Charleston. There VA and Navy staff work side-by-side in the lab and services such as radiology and pharmacy service both VA and DoD patients. VA’s Beaufort clinic is co-located with Naval Hospital Beaufort. Similar services are shared for all patients there too.
“Our VA-DoD partnership benefits Veteran and DoD patients in so many ways,” said Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center Interim Director Scott Isaacks. “Working together we are able to provide the specialty care they need closer to home while saving taxpayer dollars, improving continuity of patient and family centered care and easing the transition from active duty to Veteran status.”
LFHA also partners to provide shared orthopedics, cardiology and audiology services. DoD and VA staff also train together to maintain professional proficiencies.
“Our LFHA team is setting the standard for working together to improve patient care,” said 628th Medical Group Commander COL Judith Hughes. “The bottom line is important, but it’s really all about the patients and making sure they have the best care and the best access to that care right here in our federal community.”
The Lowcountry Federal Healthcare Alliance partnership was made possible by the National Defense Authorization Act 2003, Section 721, which authorized the Department of Defense (DoD) and the VA Health Care Sharing Incentive Fund. The purpose of this Act was to provide funding that allowed various local, regional and national entities to coordinate and share health care resources. The purpose of the alliance is to develop mutually beneficial medical service sharing agreements that improve access to quality and cost-effective health care for all of their beneficiaries. The alliance was recognized as a DoD/VA Joint Venture site in 2012.
ABOUT NAVAL HEALTH CLINIC CHARLESTON
Naval Health Clinic Charleston is located in the 188,000 square foot John G. Feder Joint Ambulatory Care Clinic located on the Joint Base Charleston-Weapons Station. NHCC provides a wide range of services including a National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) certified Medical Home Port program for Family Practice, Pediatrics and Internal Medicine patients; dermatology; ophthalmology; ambulatory non-interventional cardiology; physical therapy; optometry; and a wide variety of wellness programs. The clinic provided primary, specialty, ancillary and occupational health services during 112,588 patient encounters for 16,309 enrolled beneficiaries in the 2013 fiscal year. For more information visit www.med.navy.mil/sites/chas.
ABOUT THE RALPH H. JOHNSON VA MEDICAL CENTER
The Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, opened in 1966, is a leading primary, secondary, and tertiary care facility located in Charleston, SC, serving over 55,000 Veterans along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. The 117-bed medical center provides acute medical, surgical, and psychiatric inpatients care, as well as outpatient primary and mental health care to Lowcountry Veterans who require more than 659,000 outpatient visits and approximately 4,300 inpatient stays annually. The VAMC has six community based outpatient clinics providing primary, mental health and some specialty care. These clinics are located in South Carolina in Myrtle Beach, North Charleston, Beaufort, Goose Creek, and in Georgia in Hinesville and Savannah. The VAMC has an annual budget of $327 million and research funding of more than $27 million. For more information visitwww.charleston.va.gov.
ABOUT NAVAL HOSPITAL BEAUFORT
Open since 1949, Naval Hospital Beaufort (NHB) provides services to all active duty personnel, as well as retired military, and their family members residing in the Beaufort area, a total population of approximately 29,000 beneficiaries. Additionally, NHB operates two Branch Health Clinics: one at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and the other at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. Each clinic offers primary care and dental services to active duty service members.
