9/16/2024
PITTSBURGH — On Friday, Sept. 13, UPMC and VA Healthcare–VISN 4 announced a Pennsylvania statewide rollout of the VA–UPMC Community Nurse Liaison Program, extending services to veterans by offering care coordination, better hospital admission and discharge planning and improved inpatient experiences. Community nurse liaisons help improve care provision and ensure that post-emergency follow-up care is directed in a way that best meets veterans' needs.
Joel Yuhas, executive vice president, UPMC, and president, UPMC Health Services Division, along with Timothy W. Liezert, network director, VA Healthcare–VISN 4, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) implementing the Community Nurse Liaison program at eight UPMC hospitals. The Program enhances and expands VISN 4’s collaboration with UPMC, providing a seamless transition of care for veterans after an inpatient stay by coordinating discharges, identifying veterans who are not in the VA system and enrolling new veterans into VA health care.
“This expanded program is built off the success of the VA-UPMC Community Nurse Liaison Program in Central Pennsylvania established in 2022,” said Timothy W. Liezert, network director, VA Healthcare–VISN 4. “The results of that smaller program showed great potential for growth and the collaboration could be easily scaled up to serve more veterans. This statewide rollout is an exciting expansion that will benefit countless veterans and help them more easily navigate the health care system to ensure they get the right care and utilize their VA benefits fully. This announcement is just the beginning, and I look forward to the additional partnerships that may develop as other health systems learn about our program and want to participate.”
The Community Nurse Liaison Program model consists of embedding VA registered nurses into eight UPMC hospitals -- UPMC Presbyterian, UPMC Montefiore, and UPMC Passavant in Pittsburgh, UPMC Hamot in Erie, UPMC Harrisburg, UPMC Community Osteopathic in Harrisburg, UPMC West Shore in Mechanicsburg and UPMC Altoona -- to streamline the care of veterans from admission to discharge. Coordinating continued care, including physical therapy, prescriptions, and follow-up appointments by working hand in hand with the community case managers, is also part of the community nurse liaison’s role. Through the program, the UPMC hospitals will work closely with their local VA Medical Centers -- Pittsburgh VA Medical Center, Butler VA Medical Center, Erie VA Medical Center, Altoona VA Medical Center and Lebanon VA Medical Center.
“UPMC is a national leader in serving and supporting the military community, and this program is another great opportunity to ensure we’re providing the best experience and care possible to veterans when they need us,” said Joel Yuhas, executive vice president, UPMC, and president, UPMC Health Services Division. “At UPMC, we strive to deliver ‘Life Changing Medicine.’ This program helps us do that while honoring the ‘Life Changing Service’ to those who have served our country. This program is a promise that veterans will experience a new level of concierge-style care which is a standard our veterans justly deserve. We hope others will take notice and join the VA to expand this program even further.” 
The new MOU builds upon the already successful Community Nurse Liaison Program between UPMC and VISN 4 that was initiated in August 2022 with UPMC Harrisburg, UPMC West Shore and UPMC Community Osteopathic – a program that was one of the first of its kind. Over the past two years, positive outcomes of the program include the ability to identify veterans who present to a non-VA hospital on the same day/next business day, increased number of inpatient transfers to VA inpatient units, repatriation into VA post-discharge, decreased length of stay, improved trust in VA (both veterans and community providers), improved collaboration with patient aligned care teams, social work, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, coordination and integrated case management and an increase in VA enrollment.
PHOTO DETAILS (click image for high-res version)
CAPTION: Pictured from left: Tim Liezert, network director, VA Healthcare-VISN 4; Joe Benacci, director, Erie County Veterans Services; Joel Yuhas, president, UPMC Health Services Division, and executive vice president, UPMC; Marc Migala, director, Veteran Care Services, UPMC; and Erik Orient, director, Military Affairs and Student Initiatives, UPMC Social Impact.
CREDIT: UPMC