VA OIG Healthcare Systems Specialist Discusses New Report on Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery Programs

In this episode of Inside Oversight, Dr. Wanda Hunt, a healthcare systems specialist with the VA OIG’s Office of Healthcare Inspections, discusses a recently published report on VHA’s Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery Programs. Her team examined the visit frequency for veterans enrolled in these programs between April 2019 and March 2021, as well as evaluated VHA healthcare systems’ contingency planning for veteran medication access during emergencies. Dr. Hunt describes how important intensive community mental health recovery programs are to veterans, especially for those with serious mental illness, and how the pandemic impacted patient visits. She shares how her team conducted the review, analyzed the results, and ultimately made three recommendations addressing visit frequency, the ongoing role of virtual care in delivery of these programs, and contingency planning related to medication access during emergencies.  “These types of recovery programs are built on teams having small caseloads and frequent visits in people's communities and homes, and there's good medical evidence showing that this model of care can really improve the lives of people with serious mental illness.” – Dr. Wanda HuntRelated Report: Improvements Recommended in Visit Frequency and Contingency Planning for Emergencies in Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery Programs