Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense Integrated Systems of Mental Health Care

Abstract

The Global War on Terror (GWOT) and associated campaigns (Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn) resulted in an immediate need for veteran medical and mental health services. Since fiscal year 2002, nearly two million veterans became eligible for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) care. Of that total, 1,185,160 (61%) were former active duty, while 754,799 (39%) were either National Guard or Reserve component. Of this cohort, 685,540 (57.6%) carry a mental health diagnosis with 378,993 diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), making this diagnosis the most common mental health disorder evaluated at VA facilities for this population. The National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics anticipates the number of VA-eligible post-9/11 veterans to expand to nearly 3.4 million by 2018. To meet the needs of the expanding, dynamic composition of the eligible veteran population with mental health treatment needs, the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs developed an integrated model of mental health services. The continuum of mental health services begins with service-specific mental health resources consisting of established military treatment facilities, programs, and partnerships and continues through programs developed to assist transition of in-need service members to the VA behavioral health system of care. Integration of community outreach, primary care, specialty behavioral health, inpatient, residential, and rehabilitative services provides service members and veterans with a continuum of mental health services unavailable prior to GWOT.