Does the Department of Veterans Affairs have enough supplies to respond to the coronavirus pandemic?
Who at VA is responsible for the outbreak response?
Are emergency supply caches being checked?
What happens if VA runs out of supplies?
Is VA pre-screening at its hospitals and clinics? Does its staff have protective gear?
More than half of VA’s 9 million patients are 65 or older, a population at higher risk for infection. How is VA protecting them?VA declined more resources offered by Congress, so how is it paying for the additional workload caused by virus response?
Those questions, and many others, have yet to be answered, so a group of senators sent a letter to Veterans Health Administration head Dr. Richard Stone Thursday, asking for more information about VA’s preparation and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, led a group of 12 senators in pushing VA to provide answers. That group includes Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
“We write to request details regarding VA’s approach to coronavirus preparedness and how the department’s response has changed,” the senators said in the letter. “We want to ensure that VA has all of the resources needed to keep veterans, staff and communities safe.”
As of Thursday, 10 veterans had tested positive or presumptively positive for the virus across the United States. But testing so far has been limited. VA has administered just 70 tests at its 141 medical centers and more than 1,000 clinics, VA Press Secretary Christina Mandreucci told Connecting Vets Thursday.
VA has about 1,000 test kids from the Centers for Disease Control. It has another 2,000 tests designed by VA. The CDC tests will be used first, Mandreucci said, reserving the VA-designed tests for use “only if necessary.”
VA already locked down visitation at its 134 nursing homes and 24 spinal-cord injury/disorder centers, which care for a total of 65,000 veterans who could be vulnerable to the virus.
As more veterans test positive for coronavirus VA shuts down visitation at nursing homes
VA is the single largest healthcare provider in the United States, and part of its core mission is to serve as a last line of defense in national medical emergencies, including pandemics.
VA considered a foundational response for the country in health emergencies, so it’s essential functions and funding are guaranteed by the government -- even during a shutdown.
VA is one of four federal partners in the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), along with Homeland Security, the Defense Department and HHS. The NDMS is intended to establish a national medical response to help state and local authorities respond to public health crises, including national disasters or disease outbreaks, or to help the military medical system care for casualties of war, “from the smallest incident to the largest catastrophe.”
VA is a last line of defense in the US against national medical emergencies like pandemics
That responsibility includes the Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System (DEMPS) which deploys clinical and other staff to respond to emergencies or disasters, as well as mobile medical units.
The extent of the help VA can offer is not clear. The most recent publicly released VA pandemic plan is 14 years old and covered how VA would respond to a flu pandemic.
The most recently updated information on the number of beds VA has at its medical centers in the event of an emergency is specifically not publicly available. According to the 2006 pandemic plan, VA had about 20,000 beds available, with more in its long-term care facilities. But that number has certainly changed in the past 14 years.
VA also has an Emergency Cache Program, which provides medical supplies and medicine nationwide until HHS supplies arrive, often as quickly as 24 hours after an emergency. Those caches are built to provide for thousands, VA told Congress previously.
Previously VA leaders, including Stone and Secretary Robert Wilkie, told Congressional lawmakers that VA was prepared for the outbreak and frequently trains for such possibilities.
But if conditions worsen to pandemic levels, Stone said things will change.
“If this develops into a pandemic, in which parts of the American health system break down, we’re going to have a different conversation,” he told lawmakers.
Congressional staff told Connecting Vets that lawmakers have had regular calls and briefings from VA leaders on their response to the virus, but so far have not been provided an updated pandemic response plan. They have also requested an updated pandemic plan, but as of March 11, had not received it.
VA has a guide for veterans on coronavirus, which includes that veterans who believe they are infected should call their local VA before they show up to the hospital.
First veteran tests positive for coronavirus, VA leaders say they have space to care for more
VA tells Congress it is prepared for possible coronavirus outbreak in US
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Reach Abbie Bennett: abbie@connectingvets.com or @AbbieRBennett.
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