PACT Social Work Staffing Program Evaluated by SERVE QUERI HSR&D’s monthly publication Veterans’ Perspectives highlights research conducted by HSR&D and/or QUERI investigators, showcasing the importance of research for Veterans – and the importance of Veterans for research. In the April 2020 Issue: Introduction: Social workers integrated within patient-aligned care teams (PACTs) may be ...
Introduction In 2009, the Veterans Health Administration Handbook 1101.02 established a baseline panel size of 1,200 patients for a full-time physician in a Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). This number could be adjusted up or down based on availability of support staff, the number of examination rooms, and patient complexity.
After the PACT program’s first several years, many teams in rural areas were not fully staffed with social workers. In 2016, to fill this persistent gap in rural health care and service delivery, ORH implemented the Social Work PACT Staffing Program, which placed more master’s-level licensed social workers in PACTs at rural health centers.
The Homeless PACT program is now operational in 54 VA medical centers, Community-Based Outpatient Clinics, and Community Resource and Referral Centers across the country. In Fiscal Year 2019, more than 17,600 homeless and at-risk Veterans were enrolled in the 80 H-PACT teams across the country, and approximately 22,000 are served annually.
The Improving Emergency Department (ED) Coordination with PACT (ED-PACT Tool), whose development and implementation was led by Kristina Cordasco, MD, MPH, MSHS, improves coordination between ED and PACT for Veterans with urgent or specific ED follow-up care needs by facilitating messages from ED providers to PACT nurse care managers.