Hospital of the Future

Despite progress toward the digital hospital of tomorrow, military planners are still grappling with the technical problems of today. 08/27/08. The VA Medical Center in Orlando, Fla., and the DOD hospital planned for Fort Belvoir, Va., will be built with larger private rooms, family visiting areas, hidden cabling for medical devices, acoustic flooring to absorb noise, and personal wireless devices and Internet connections so patients can keep in touch with loved ones or pass the hours on the Web. Those features are designed to make a patient’s stay healthier and more pleasant. Government Health IT

VA Outsourcing

Legion asks VA not to Outsource 08/26/08. Any plans the Department of Veterans Affairs has to hire outside contractors to launch a new GI Bill, or to bring in outside companies to inspect state veterans homes, will face fierce objection from the world's largest veterans organization. The American Legion, meeting here for its 90th National Convention, passed resolutions Monday to head off any intentions VA has to outsource either the new GI Bill or the inspections. Military.com

Rural Vets

VA centers to coordinate rural veterans telehealth services 08/31/08. Exploring how best to extend telehealth services to veterans living in rural areas will be one of the key missions of three Veterans Rural Health Resource Centers to be opened by the Veterans Affairs Department on Oct. 1. Government Health IT

VA Mobile Health Care Clinics Reach Rural Veterans 08/28/08. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is rolling out four new mobile health clinics outfitted to bring primary care and mental health services closer to veterans in 24 predominately rural counties, where patients must travel long distances to visit their nearest VA medical center or outpatient clinic. MarketWatch.com

Grant to focus on rural vets 08/26/08. The University of North Dakota's Center for Rural Health says it's joining with the Fargo Veterans Administration Medical Center in a program to improve health care for rural veterans. WDAY

Agent Orange and Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer twice as high in Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange 08/24/08 The findings, to be published in the Sept. 15, 2008 issue of the journal Cancer are the first to reliably link the herbicide with prostate cancer through a large population study, according to researchers at the University of California-Davis Cancer Center. The men in the study, all in their 60s, are enrolled in the VA Northern California Health Care System. They were screened with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test used as a tool for early diagnosis and tracking of prostate cancer. Flesh & Stone

'Priority 8' VA Care

Military Update: VA care for ‘Priority 8’ veterans tied to reform 08/24/08. Congress is moving to reopen the VA health care system to many more thousands of Priority Group 8 veterans – those who aren’t poor, at least by government standards, and have no service-related ailments. Disabled American Veterans and some partner organizations support such a move but with two caveats, explained DAV representatives. First, accepting new “Priority 8” enrollees should be gradual to protect access to care for service-disabled veterans and all other current enrollees. Second, resumption of Group 8 enrollments, which were suspended in 2003, should not occur without reform of VA health care budgeting to ensure that VA health budgets, year after year, finally become “sufficient, timely and predictable,” said Joseph A. Violante, DAV’s legislative director. Tom Philpott via Military.com