The Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, and Health and Human Services have released an interim report outlining progress to-date on expanding access to mental health services for veterans, service members and their families.
The release of the interim report follows scathing criticism in the House over VA bonuses in the face of ongoing management challenges at the department including a persistent claims backlog. Legislation was also passed in the House Veterans Affairs Committee to freeze performance bonuses for VA senior executives for five years.
The report lists efforts in response to an August 2012 executive order directing the departments to coordinate with other agencies to bolster these services, and according to a joint statement they have increased the capacity of the veterans crisis line by 50 percent, and established 15 pilot projects in seven states where VA is working with community-based mental health providers to help veterans access mental health services in a timely way.
Recent hiring efforts at the VA have increased the number of mental health providers by 1,400, along with 248 new peer specialists, and a national suicide prevention campaign has been launched to connect veterans and service members to mental health services.
The departments are actively working on additional deliverables called for in the order including the development of a National Research Action Plan.
