VA to Improve Vision Services

More than a million visually impaired veterans will receive enhanced health care services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under a reorganization of VA’s vision rehabilitation services, said VA secretary Jim Nicholson. VA will allocate $40 million during the next three years to establish a comprehensive nationwide rehabilitation system for veterans and active duty personnel with visual impairments. The system will expand outpatient services throughout the agency’s 1,400 health care locations. Each of VA’s 21 Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) will implement the eye care plan for veterans with visual impairments from 20/70 to total blindness. All VA clinics will offer basic services, while every network will provide intermediate and advanced low-vision services. VA’s 10 existing inpatient blind rehabilitation centers will continue to provide the department’s most intensive eye care programs, but each VISN now will also provide outpatient-based blind rehabilitation care.