Providing Direct Access to Audiology and Optometry Services for Veterans

December 12, 2016

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Secretary Bob McDonald recognized the agency was in desperate need of a transformation plan. By speaking with thousands of employees and visiting hundreds of facilities, he was able to uncover agency challenges and gain perspective into what changes were most pressing. Using this feedback, the MyVA plan was developed to help modernize and improve the agency’s internal performance and give Veterans the world-class care they deserve while cutting down on scheduling difficulties and wasted time.

One of MyVA’s most important initiatives is to provide Veterans with same day access to the health care services they need. During the Secretary’s facility visits, many Veterans voiced concern and frustration over the referral process in order to see a specialist, even for something as simple as annual audiology (ear) and optometry (eye) exams. After conducting a pilot study at three facilities, the agency agreed this was a major problem.  

The Audiology and Optometry Direct Scheduling Initiative helps Veterans get doctors’ appointments much sooner and gives them direct access to optometry and audiology appointments without a referral. This has freed up much-needed appointments for primary care physicians and reduced the overall wait times for optometry and audiology appointments.

To roll this initiative out to all VA facilities nationwide, the MyVA office brought on Atlas Research to develop a strategic implementation program that leverages Lean tools and rapid performance improvement to assist in the rollout. As part of its work, Atlas is also capturing valuable feedback to develop a set of best practices and key lessons that can be used for other direct scheduling efforts in the future.

“Implementing a new program is never an easy task for any organization,” said Daniela Macander, Atlas manager. “We want to provide all facilities with the resources and training necessary for success. We know that this program will play a crucial role in fulfilling the same day access initiative set forth by MyVA and we will do whatever we can to make that transition as seamless as possible.”

With 143 facilities participating in this direct access initiative, creating a step-by-step implementation plan was critical to its success. Atlas built a communication package for internal and external stakeholders to help ensure a seamless rollout process. This package included numerous templates that facilities can use for all different types of communication. 

“The communications package we developed provides facility employees with the tools they need to communicate effectively,” said Atlas Manager Felicia Lo. “But most importantly, we designed tools that are reusable and can be applied to direct scheduling processes beyond this effort.”

 A toolkit, called the Facilitator Toolkit, was assembled and orientation materials were created to help specific locations navigate the implementation phase. Face-to-face coaching and training was also provided to help prepare facility employees for the rollout. For any facilities not in need of face-to-face training, a number of orientation resources were distributed to create consistent standards and processes across different facility locations within VA.    

“We are excited to be a part of this project and to support MyVA,” said Connie Bennett, Atlas project director. “We know that this program will not only provide Veterans with faster service, but it will also provide us with valuable insight for future initiatives.”

The Audiology and Optometry Direct Scheduling Initiative is helping set the bar for future direct access programs. Through key lessons and feedback surveys, Atlas is using the findings from this project to create a set of best practices that can be applied to future direct scheduling implementation programs.