Improving Physical and Occupational Rehabilitation Services for Rural Veterans

Challenge

With Servicemen and Servicewomen returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) faces new challenges because these Veterans often need intensive long-term physical and occupational rehabilitation, and these services are not always readily available in rural communities.

Solution

Providing expertise and other resources to meet the challenges, Atlas Research helped expand physical and occupational services to Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in the Martinsburg, WV region.  To help assess and monitor the incorporation of new rehabilitative services, Atlas researchers conducted an assessment of the physical and occupational therapy demand in the Martinsburg region. Researchers identified the areas that were lacking in rehabilitative services and worked with the Network to bring these specialized services to clinics in the field, planning support for equipment, space, and staff needed to operate three additional rehabilitative outpatient clinics.

Result

Atlas assisted the Capitol Health Care Network bring rehabilitative services to rural Veterans who previously lacked access to the care they needed.