Patient Aligned Care Teams Help Improve Health Promotion

VA Serves more than 73,000 male patients at PVAHCS

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The Phoenix VA Health Care System is joining a growing number of VA health care facilities in adopting a new method of VA health delivery nationwide called Patient Aligned Care Teams or PACTs. This system is more patient-centered and focuses heavily on quick and easy communication between patients and their health care providers.

Doctors, nurses and other health care and administrative professionals will form the teams which will each care for a group of Veterans who are VA patients.

“Patients will have a dedicated group of individuals including a doctor, a nurse, and other support staff to help manage and monitor their health care needs,” said Dr. Jamie Robbins Interim Medical Center Director.  “This enhanced coordination of care will help us place the patient’s needs first to help them be even more proactive in managing their health care.”

In addition to improving communication between Veterans and their providers, VHA PACTs are also designed to make getting access to specialty care easier on the Veteran. When such care is needed, the PACT will work with the Veteran to schedule an appointment and then follow up with the Veteran and specialty provider to ensure continuous, effective, appropriate health care.

“PACTs will be able to handle many routine questions – about forms or symptoms, for example – over the phone or through secure e-mail messages on My HealtheVet,” said Robbins.

PACT is VA’s adaptation of the popular contemporary team-based model of health care known at Patient-Centered Medical Home designed to provide continuous and coordinated care throughout a patient’s lifetime.

Assisting in the new rollout is Karen White RN, who is the PVAHCS Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Program, Manager.

“PACT is more health care rather than a disease or sick care focused. It takes into account the entire person so it’s more proactive. We really work with the Veterans about planning for their health. You plan for your finances, your career; you actually plan better for your death than your health. And so, we think we can do a better job of making Veterans healthier and having better lives through this new model. We’re transforming the way that we do things, and that’s exciting,” said White.

At present, the PACT model is available in the Emerald, Northwest, Thunderbird, Diamond, and Gold Clinics. It will be rolled out to the rest of the clinics by the end of this fiscal year.

More than six million Veterans receive health care services at more than 1,500 VA locations across the nation. At the Phoenix VA Health Care System, we provide care to more than 80,000 Veterans at the main campus the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center and our seven outlying clinics.

You can listen to Karen White in a podcast on the new VHA PACTs to help improve our Veteran’s Health.