Montana
and the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

• General:  The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers a wide variety of programs and services for the nation’s 24.3 million veterans.  In 2006, about 5.3 million people were treated in VA health care facilities, 3.6 million veterans and survivors received VA disability compensation or pensions, nearly 600,000 used GI Bill education benefits and more than 2.4 million owned homes purchased with GI Bill home loan benefits originally valued at $236 billion.  More than 100,000 veterans and family members were buried in VA’s national cemeteries and nearly 360,000 headstones and markers were provided for veterans’ graves worldwide.

VA spent more than $308 million in Montana in 2006 to serve about 100,000 veterans who live in the state.  That same year, 17,614 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in Montana.  VA provided 1,724 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 11,286 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $339 million.  Montana veterans held more than 6,100 VA life insurance policies worth $71 million.

• Health Care:  One of the most visible of all VA benefits is health care.  VA has 153 hospitals, 895 ambulatory care and community-based outpatient clinics, 209 Vet Centers, 135 nursing homes, 47 residential rehabilitation treatment programs and 92 comprehensive home care programs.  To improve patients’ ability to access care, VA has changed from a hospital-based system to a primarily outpatient-focused system over the past decade.  Veterans will make 55 million outpatient visits to VA health care facilities this year.

In 2006, VA Montana had 2,438 inpatient admissions, while outpatient visits totaled 258,396.  The VA Montana Healthcare System operates a major medical center at Fort Harrison, five miles west of Helena; a nursing home at Miles City; and nine outpatient clinics dedicated to primary care at Anaconda, Ashland, Billings, Bozeman, Glasgow, Great Falls, Miles City, Missoula, and Kalispell.  The VA Montana Healthcare System provides a full range of health care services for veterans, including internal medicine, family practice, dermatology, general surgery, ear, nose and throat, orthopedics, ophthalmology, podiatry, urology, rheumatology, neurology, medical oncology, gastroenterology, palliative care, gynecology, coronary angiography, psychiatry, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, radiology (computerized tomography, MRI, nuclear medicine and ultrasound), physical therapy, registered dieticians and consultation services for neurosurgery, infectious disease, cardiology and sleep medicine.

• Post-Conflict Care:  VA has launched special efforts to provide a "seamless transition" for those returning from service in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF).  Each VA medical facility and benefits regional office has a point of contact to coordinate activities locally to help meet the needs of these returning combat service members and veterans.  In addition, VA increased the staffing of benefits counselors at key military hospitals where severely wounded service members from Iraq and Afghanistan are frequently sent.  Once home, recent Iraq and Afghan veterans have ready access to VA health care, which is free of charge for two years following separation for any health problem possibly related to wartime service.  Some 205,000 veterans from the Global War on Terror have sought VA health care since returning stateside, about one-third of the total number of men and women leaving military service.

In Montana, more than 1,900 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terror have sought VA health care.  Some veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers in Billings and Missoula.  These community-based Vet Centers serve as an important resource for veterans who, once home, often seek out fellow veterans for advice or help transitioning back to civilian life.

• Geriatric Care:  Long-term care is a critical issue for America’s veterans.  Approximately 39 percent of living veterans are at least 65 years, compared with 12 percent of the general population.  The challenge to care for these 9.5 million men and women is met through a spectrum of home and community-based programs such as home-based primary care, homemaker and home health aide services, home respite and hospice and adult day care health.  VA also provides home and domiciliary care for veterans who can no longer be safely maintained in non-institutional settings.  Additionally, VA conducts nationwide research on the causes and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and funds 21 geriatric research, education and clinical centers, each focusing on a major geriatric problem.

In Montana, 13,067 veterans 65 and older received outpatient medical care from VA in 2006.  In Montana, nursing home care is provided in several locations.  The Miles City VA nursing home has 30 beds.  This facility has demonstrated excellence and was recognized nationally by the external peer review program.  VA Montana also supports two veterans homes operated by the state of Montana in Glendive and Columbia Falls, with a total of 185 nursing home beds and 12 domiciliary beds.  Veterans who are eligible may also be placed in private nursing homes around the state under the auspices of VA on a temporary or permanent contract.  VA Montana has within its ranks a board-certified geriatric physician and many health care providers dedicated to the care of the geriatric patients.  Continuing education focuses on geriatric health care, preventive health that address the special needs of the elderly and other issues specific to older veterans.

• Research:  To provide the highest quality of health care to the nation’s veterans, VA sponsors a world-renowned research and development program that addresses some of the most difficult challenges facing medical science today, such as aging, vision loss, women’s health, Gulf War illnesses, diabetes, bioterrorism and hepatitis. VA researchers led the way in developing the cardiac pacemaker, the CT scan, magnetic source imaging and improving artificial limbs.  More recently, injuries sustained by armed forces engaged in current deployments have further increased the long-standing emphasis on VA research on limb loss; prosthetics and tissue replacement; traumatic brain injury; spinal cord injury; and mental health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder.  The quality of the research and relevance to the veteran population remain the determining factors in deciding what studies to fund.

VA Montana does not operate separate research programs.

• Disabilities and Pensions:  Not all military service related issues end when people are discharged from active duty.  About 2.7 million veterans receive monthly VA disability compensation for medical conditions related to their service in uniform.  VA pensions go to about 330,000 wartime veterans with limited means.  Family members of about 527,000 veterans qualify for monthly VA payments as the survivors of disabled veterans or pension recipients.

VA's Fort Harrison VA Medical and Regional Office Center serves veterans and their survivors in Montana who are seeking VA financial benefits.  In fiscal year 2006, the Fort Harrison VAMROC processed 3,669 disability compensation claims, including 1,245 veterans applying for the first time and 2,424 cases where veterans reopened a claim, usually to seek an increase in their disability rating level for higher payments.  More than 400 Montana veterans participated in VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program in 2006.

• Homeless:  Less than one-quarter of all homeless adults are veterans, and many more veterans who live in poverty are at risk of becoming homeless.  VA is the only federal agency that provides substantial hands-on assistance directly to the homeless.  It has the largest network of homeless assistance programs in the country.  Nearly 16,000 residential rehabilitative, transitional and permanent beds are available for homeless veterans throughout the country.  VA aggressively reaches out to veterans on the street, conducts clinical assessments, offers needed medical treatment, and provides long-term shelters and job training.  More than $265 million is dedicated to specialized homeless programs to assist homeless veterans, including grants and per diem payments to more than 400 public and non-profit groups.

Homeless veterans in Montana receive outreach services such as primary health care, mental health, detox, substance abuse counseling and case management services at the Fort Harrison medical center.  Primary care treatment is available to homeless veterans in community outpatient clinics with referrals to the medical center for more specialized care.  The homeless veteran program case manager from the medical center and the VA Regional Office routinely visit homeless shelters throughout the state and visits in person or by phone weekly with participating veterans.  A partnership with shelters, community-based outpatient clinics and other community leaders and service organizations has been established, and a services referral network has been developed.  From this referral network, the homeless veteran program case manager acts as an access point for homeless veterans seeking travel on the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) van transportation system, health care services, case management, benefit and employment counseling  as well as housing.  The case manager also helps state providers seek grant awards for the housing of homeless veterans.

• Memorial Affairs:  Most men and women who have been in the military are eligible for burial in a national cemetery, as are their dependent children and usually their spouses.  VA manages the country’s network of national cemeteries with more than 2.9 million gravesites at 125 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, as well as in 33 soldier’s lots and monument sites.  In 2007, more than 100,000 veterans and dependents were buried in VA's national cemeteries.  Additionally, VA provided more than 359,000 headstones and markers and 423,000 Presidential Memorial Certificates to the loved ones of deceased veterans.  VA-assisted state veterans cemeteries provided more than 23,000 interments.

Montana has no VA national cemeteries, but the Ft. Harrison State Veterans Cemetery in Helena had 164 burials in 2006 and another state cemetery in Miles City had 29 burials.  Both were developed with VA grants.  Montana also has a veterans home cemetery, built without federal funds.  In 2006, VA provided 1,238 headstones and markers for the graves of veterans in Montana and sent 1,111 Presidential Memorial Certificates to Montana survivors of veterans.