This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
APA urges support for Ensuring Veterans' Resiliency Act
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The American Psychiatric Association is urging psychiatrists to contact their members of Congress to sponsor the Ensuring Veterans’ Resiliency Act, according to its website.
According to the APA, the act would help secure a better workforce in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to help ensure that most veterans receive adequate treatment for mental illnesses, within a timely fashion.
The Office of the Inspector General found that a full mental health evaluation within the VHA-required 14 days was only given to 49% of first-time patients, and the remaining 51% wait an average of 50 days for their evaluations.
“The Ensuring Veterans’ Resiliency Act seeks to mitigate the chronic shortage of psychiatrists in the VHA by implementing a pilot program in which a limited number of psychiatrists are recruited into long-term employment at the VHA with competitive medical education loan forgiveness incentives,” according to the announcement. “It further asks the [Government Accountability Office] to study pay disparities between psychiatrists within the VHA.”
For more information, see the announcement.