JOURNALISM AND COMMENTARY
This Veterans Day, Thank VA’s Veterans Crisis Line for Saving Nearly 300,000 Veterans
By Paul Sullivan In 2011, a mother in distress phoned me about her son who had just returned from the war in Iraq.
VHPI Releases New Report on Rural Health Crisis
Today, the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute (VHPI) published a new report sounding the alarm over a number of misguided Congressional proposals that promise to increase healthcare access for veterans in rural areas. Entitled “The Problem of Rural Veterans Healthcare and How to Solve it,” the VHPI report warns that further privatization of the healthcare system run by the Department of Veterans of Affairs (VA) will weaken healthcare access for the 2.7 VA patients who live in rural areas.
Preventing Veteran Suicides Through Better Data
By Russell Lemle, originally in The Washington Monthly In 2019, with the number of U.S. veterans dying by suicide surpassing 6,000 for the 11th consecutive year, Congress searched for fresh ideas to address the crisis.
The Race to Save Medical Research
Most Americans probably aren’t aware that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system, along with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is the best and biggest medical research powerhouse in the United States. Millions of veterans have benefited from VA research breakthroughs, including pioneering treatments for PTSD, Agent Orange, and prosthetics.
VA Gets it Right on Suicide Data
For years, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has painstakingly labored to track, research and address veteran suicide. Their exceptional work was dealt an unwarranted blow a month ago with the publication of an incomplete report entitled Operation Deep Dive (OpDD). The $3.9 million study from America’s Warrior Partnership (AWP) examined death data of former service members in eight states between 2014-2018.
It's Clearer Than Ever VHA Must Remain the Primary Provider of Veteran Care
By: Suzanne Gordon and Russell Lemle, Senior Policy Analysts, in The Hill • VHPI Policy Analysts Suzanne Gordon and Russell Lemle push for fundamental reforms of the VA's highly flawed quality and access standards for private care.
The Veterans Who Bury Their Own
By: Jasper Craven, Policy Fellow, in The New York Times • Jasper Craven wrote about the honorable work inside the third, largely overlooked wing of the Department of Veterans Affairs: The National Cemetery Administration
The VA's COVID-19 + Suicide Prevention Secrets
Almost weekly now, new evidence emerges about the superiority of VA healthcare when compared to the private sector.
St. Louis Veterans Affairs Expects To Give 80% of Patients COVID-19 Vaccine By Summer
By: St. Louis Public Radio; Source: Suzanne Gordon • VHPI Policy Fellow Suzanne Gordon spoke to St. Louis Public Radio about the impressive work by the Department of Veterans Affairs to coordinate care and administer vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
VA outreach puts Minnesota veterans on vaccine fast track
By: Chris Serres; Source: Suzanne Gordon • The Star Tribune spoke with VHPI Policy Fellow Suzanne Gordon in its report on how the VA “has emerged as a success story in the furious race to vaccinate people against the deadly [coronavirus]."