WELCOME TO THE OFFICE OF GERIATRICS AND EXTENDED CARE

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The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers a spectrum of geriatric and extended care services to Veterans enrolled in its health care system. The spectrum of long-term care services includes non-institutional and institutional services.  All VA's medical centers provide home and community based outpatient long-term care programs.  This patient-focused approach supports the wishes of most Veterans to live at home in their own communities as long as possible.  In addition, on any given day, more then 35,00 Veterans will receive institutional long-term care this year through one of three venues: VA Community Living Centers (CLC), formerly known as VA Nursing Homes;  Community Nursing Homes; or State Veterans Homes.

Who is Eligible for Non-Institutional Long-Term Care and Nursing Home Care
All Veterans enrolled in VA's health care system are eligible for home and community based long-term care services.  A series of clinical indicators and conditions help VA staff identify the need for these services.  Specific eligibility and admission criteria are unique to each venue of nursing home care: Under the Millennium Health Care Act, 1999, VA must pay for nursing home care for Veterans who require nursing home care and meet the following criteria:

•  A Veteran who has a service-connected disability rating of 70 percent or more
  
•  A Veteran who needs nursing home care for a service-connected disability
•  A Veteran who is rated 60 percent service-connected and is either unemployable or has an official rating of "permanent and total disabled"
• Nonservice-connected Veterans and those officially referred to as "zero percent, noncompensable, service connected"
• Veterans who require nursing home care for any nonservice-connected disability and who meet income and asset criteria are eligible for VA CLC care on a resource available basis.

Non-Institutional Care
Veterans can receive home-based primary care, purchased skilled health care, adult day health care, homemaker and home health aide services, home respite care, home hospice care and community residential care.  In fiscal year 2009, 59% of VA's total extended care patient population received care in non-institutional or enriched housing settings.