Benefits: 1-800-827-1000 Education & Training: 1-888-442-4551 Life Insurance: 1-800-669-8477 Special Issues: 1-800-749-8387 Health Care: 1-877-222-VETS (8387) Headstones/Markers: 1-800-697-6947 VA Inspector General: 1-800-488-8244 Suicide Prev. Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) TDD: 1-800-829-4833

How Do I Get Help?

Am I Eligible?

You may be eligible for VA benefits if you are:

• A veteran
• A veteran's dependent
• A surviving spouse, child or parent of a deceased veteran
• An active duty military service member
• A member of the Reserve or National Guard

Contact the VA to find out! Visit the VA Health Care Eligibility & Enrollment site for more information.

Care Management

Every VA Medical Center has an OEF/OIF Care Management Team ready to welcome OEF/OIF veterans and help coordinate your care. Case Managers, who are either nurses or social workers, coordinate patient care activities and help you navigate your way through the VA system.

A Transition Patient Advocate (TPA) acts as a personal advocate as you move throughout the VA healthcare system. To contact the OEF/OIF Care Management Team check your local VA medical center web site. You can find the web site using the VA Facility Locator.

Federal Recovery Coordination Program

To get into the Federal Recovery Coordination Program, you must be seriously wounded, ill or injured and be referred. You are referred into the program by a member of your multi-disciplinary team, your commander, wounded warrior program or through self-referral.

The criteria include the following:

• Receiving acute care in military treatment facility;
• Diagnosed or referred with one or more of the following;
• Spinal cord injury
• Burns
• Amputation
• Visual Impairment
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Considered at risk for psychosocial complication

An assigned Federal Recovery Coordinator will develop a Federal Individualized Recovery Plan with input from the service member or veteran's multidisciplinary heath care team, the service member or veteran, and their family or caregiver. They track the care, management and transition of a recovering service member or veteran through recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration.

Find out if you or a loved one may benefit from a Federal Recovery Coordinator — call 1-877-732-4456 during weekday business hours. If calling after hours leave a message, your call will be returned the next business day.

VA Liaisons for Healthcare (Office of Care Management and Social Work)

The VA Liaison Program now has 31 liaisons serving at 17 Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs). These liaisons facilitate the transfer of care from MTFs to VA Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers. In addition, the liaisons contact local VA OEF/OIF Care Management (CM) Program Managers when a OEF/OIF service member is going to be utilizing VA care.

The OEF/OIF CM Program Manager ensures that the service member or veteran is screened for care management, has appointments and care plans in place before leaving the MTF and knows who to contact for additional assistance. Should the patient require care management the OEF/OIF care management team has nurses, social workers, Transition Patient Advocates and VBA counselors available to assist.

The graphic below shows the locations of VHA staff assigned to Military Treatment Facilities:

VA liaisons coordinate healthcare for service members as they transfer from DoD to VA. They are integrated with staff at the MTF to provide onsite consultation/collaboration about VA resources and treatment options. They are actively engaged with the OEF/OIF Care Management teams at local VA facilities through the coordination of referrals for healthcare. Liaisons engage the "Home" VAMC OEF/OIF PM as applicable, and maintain involvement until healthcare is arranged and transfer is complete.