Through the HBPC program, medical staff will make house calls for some geriatric veterans. The VA offers this service to qualifying vets who are living at home and have difficulty getting to VA medical facilities for routine care. According to the website, a veteran who is enrolled in VA health benefits could qualify if he or she is frail, has a medical condition that makes leaving the house difficult, or if their caregiver does not drive. A team of physicians, physician assistants, nurses and/or social workers will make house calls, manage care, and can even collect lab samples in the home. The veteran must live within a certain radius of the nearest VA facility.
My apologies for posting if this program's existence is common knowledge. We have been telling VA staff (medical personnel and social workers) for years that it is really difficult for our nonagenarian vet to get out of the house to his appointments, and no one has ever mentioned it to us. It was a fluke that I found it last night after looking for other info on the VA website.
I hope this is of use to someone else. You can find it on the VA Geriatrics and Extended Care page under "Home and Community Based Services."
Has anyone used VA Home Based Primary Care? Has the service been beneficial to you and your loved one?
23 Answers
Helpful Newest
First Oldest
First
ADVERTISEMENT
I had Doctors, Nurses, Social Workers all come to the house.
(schedule them all in the same day if you can it reduces the co-pay if you have one or have them declared "catastrophic" and that will eliminate co-pay)
I also had Hospice and the Hospice and the HBPC worked with Hospice. If a medication that Hospice did not cover was needed they would contact the VA and it would be sent out. I would get calls monthly to update medications and verify that everyone was on the same page. Hospice would sent them info and they would send Hospice info.
I would not have been able to do what I did without the help of the VA and Hospice.
rakshita, are you talking about the health care benefits?
Carefordad, thank you! That is very helpful! Hearing about your experiences with it is very encouraging and we are excited about the program.
Hope this is helpful.
Carefordad, that is great to hear! Generally the VA has been really helpful, but the primary care doc and PA he's seen just don’t seem very familiar with treating the frail elderly. We are thinking that the Home Based Care team might be more experienced with the needs of geriatric patients.
Michael, you are so right! The VA has been a huge help to us, and have provided grandpa with a motorized wheel chair, weekly hours of home health care (through A&A), and really nice hearing aides. We did not know how much they could offer older vets till people caring for their veteran dads told us about some of the programs available. (The hearing aides are the first he has been able to use successfully in decades. He never could have afforded something like the VA set on his own. That alone has made a huge difference!)
I think that I read something about this the last time we were at the VA. I believe I picked up a flyer but when I got home I probably filed it with a pile of VA filing that I need to wade through. That includes information on VA dental services.
I did check the website, added it in bold to my database and will read it over - it seems like a valuable program, and we eventually might need it.
Thanks for your thoughtfulness in sharing this with others.