Make an appointment, speak to a nurse, meet with a medical provider and get help with prescriptions through this program.
Over 5,800 dedicated staff support VA Health Connect to provide care to veterans virtually and by phone 24/7, 365 days a year. In 2024 alone, staff handled 41 million calls from veterans.
The four core services that VA Health Connect provides is clinical triage (speak to a nurse), scheduling and administration (make an appointment ), virtual clinic visits (meet with a medical provider) and pharmacy (gets answers to your prescribed medication).
“Our goal is to get you to the right person at the right time,” said Dr. Lisa T. Marrache, senior medical advisor for Office of Integrated Veteran Care. “We are integrated with a patients PACT (patient aligned care) teams if they have them and if they don’t, we will provide care until they get assigned to one.
“We are fully integrated into mental health as well. We do get a lot of veterans who call in crisis and are suicidal. We want to make sure we get them to the right person, so we have same-day access linkages with mental health at the facilities to ensure that if we get somebody who is at risk that we can do a literal warm handoff to help.”
Veterans enrolled in VA health care can find their local VA Health Connect number by searching for their facility or connecting through the VA Health Chat app. For more information about VA Health Connect, visit va.gov/initiatives/va-health-connect/.
Tele-emergency care is also a part of VA Health Connect. Veterans who contact VA Health Connect will speak to a clinical triage nurse, who will connect them to tele-emergency care when clinically appropriate. Tele-EC providers will then evaluate the veteran over the phone or on video and recommend treatment or follow-up, including if in-person care is needed. In life-threatening emergencies, the clinical triage nurse will call 911 and stay on the line until help arrives. It is important to note veterans experiencing a life-threatening emergency should immediately contact 911, versus seeking support via tele-EC.
- Veterans Healthcare