Social Work in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Embracing Change in Care Delivery for Veterans during the Pandemic.

Abstract

For the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the department’s ability to mobilize and to respond during national emergencies. From inviting retired medical personnel back to work to rapidly administering a vaccine, VA continued to serve America’s veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces through every aspect of patient care. The pandemic shifted care delivery across many facets of healthcare to a virtual format. From the vantage point of the former National Director of Social Work for the VA, the warp-speed adoption of technologies to deliver healthcare virtually demonstrated a commitment to the VA’s fourth mission of “emergency preparedness” (Congressional Research Service, 2020). While we had the technology before the pandemic, there was diffidence toward its use among the VA workforce and veterans, which had to be overcome when in-person treatment became risky. As background, VA is the nation’s...