VA Referrals to SNF During COVID-19 Emergency

Dan Ciolek and Dana Ritchie

Per an email to AHCA from the Veterans Administration (VA), Community care has halted non-urgent, non-emergent VA referrals to the community. However, referrals for geriatrics and extended care services (including all nursing home referrals) will continue but they are being clinically reviewed using guidance provided to the VA facilities and community care network (CCN) contractors “The community care office should carefully evaluate and prioritize referrals that are urgent/emergent and medically necessary based on clinical triage.”

NOTE: The VA and TriWest have delayed the deployment of CNN throughout Region 4 as Montana and Eastern Colorado will deploy June 8, 2020 and the remainder of Region 4 by August 31, 2020, so referrals in these regions for post-acute care would continue to be via local VA contracts or veterans care agreements (VCAs).

The following are useful web links to access updated VA information.

• The VA provider latest news webpage is here.
• The VA COVID-19 webpage  is here.
• The Optum CCN Network COVID-19 webpage is here. 
• The TriWest Network provider webpage is here.