Deployment Mental Health and Homelessness: Making the Vital Connection

Harold Kudler, M.D.Associate Director, VA Mid Atlantic Health Care Network Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (VISN 6 MIRECC)Clinical Lead, VISN 6 Rural HealthAssociate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center

Harold.Kudler@va.gov

What the Data Tells Us About Our National Capacity to Manage Deployment-Related Mental Health Issues• Of 22 million living Veterans, 8.9 million (40%)

are enrolled in VA Healthcare• Nearly three-quarters served during a war or an

official period of conflict• VA currently provides health care to 6.3 million

veterans (29%)www.va.gov

OEF/OIF/OND Veterans In VA• As of December 31, 2013:

• 18 million of 2.5 million total OEF/OIF/OND Veterans eligible for VA services

• 58% (1,027,801) have already sought VA care

• Three most common health issues:• Musculoskeletal• Mental Health• Symptoms, Signs and Ill-Defined Conditions

http://www.publichealth.va.gov/epidemiology/reports/oefoifond/health-care-utilization/index.asp

Mental Health among OEF/OIF/OND Veterans • Possible mental health problems reported among

55.7% (572,569) of the 1,027,801 eligible OEF/OIF/OND Veterans who have presented to VA

• Provisional MH diagnoses include: PTSD (30% of all who presented to VA) 311,688

Depressive Disorder 248,891Affective Psychoses 152,587Neurotic Disorders: 229,361Alcohol Dependence: 72,055Nondependent Abuse of Drugs: 53,839Tobacco Use Disorder 149,714

Our Focus: Deployment MH

PTSD

TBI Depression

GriefFamilySUD

MST

Homeless

Job

Chronic Pain

The Rural Dimension•Rural Veterans

•41% of all VA enrollees•39% of enrolled OEF/OIF/OND Veterans•53% of Veterans in VISN 6

•Rural Service Members (including Guard and Reserve) and their families are less likely to have access to a local mental health professional

Beyond the DoD/VA Continuum

• Ideally all deployment-related Mental Health problems would be picked up somewhere within the DoD/VA continuum of care but:

• Despite their historic level of engagement in VA, if 58% of OEF/OIF/OND Veterans eligible for VA care have come to VA where are the other 42%?

Comparison to the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study

• Perhaps we should only be concerned about those who choose to seek care but:• Only 20% of the Vietnam Veterans with PTSD

at the time of the study had EVER gone to VA for Mental Health Care yet:

• 62% of all Vietnam Veterans with PTSD had sought MH care at some point

Kulka et al. 1990, Volume II, Table IX-2

Service Members, Veterans and their Families are Distributed Across the Entire Nation and Many Seek Care Within Their Own Communities

• An estimated 40-75% of OEF/OIF/OND Veterans seen in DoD/VA also receive part of their care in the community

• Family members also deal with deployment-related stress and virtually all of them seek care in the community

• Are Community Providers and Programs prepared to identify, treat or triage deployment-related mental health problems?

Serving Those Who Have Served: Educational Needs of Health Care Providers Working with Military Members, Veterans, and their Families

• Web-based survey of 319 rural and urban community mental health and primary care providers

• Available at VA Intranet Link: http://www.mirecc.va.gov/docs/visn6/Serving_Those_Who_Have_Served.pdf

• Funded by VA’s Office of Rural Health

Kilpatrick, D.G., Best, C.L., Smith, D.W., Kudler, H., & Cornelison-Grant, V. Charleston, SC: Medical University of South Carolina Department of Psychiatry, National Crime Victims Research & Treatment Center, 2011

Participants• 97.6% participation rate among 327 providers

who opened link• Two-thirds were mental health professionals

• Psychologists were most prevalent group followed by psychiatrists, social workers/ other mental health professionals

• Remainder self-identified as primary care providers or other professionals• Most prevalent were family medicine providers

followed by pediatricians and internists• One-third (34%) self-described as Rural

• 6% were not sure if Rural or Urban

Experience with Military/Veterans: Military Cultural Competence

• Only one out of six (16%) providers had ever served in the Armed Forces including the Reserves or National Guard • Although VA is a national leader in provider training, only one third (31%) had any VA training • Only one out of eight (12%) have ever been employed as a health professional in VA

Key Findings of Serving Those Who Have Served

• 56% of community providers don’t routinely ask their patients about being a current or former member of the Armed Forces or a family member

• Only 29% of providers agreed with the statement: “I am knowledgeable about how to refer a Veteran for medical or mental health care services at the VA”

Disparities in Knowledge and Confidence Among Community Providers: Rural Matters!• Rural Providers were significantly more likely to

be primary care professionals• No significant difference in military service but

Rural providers were significantly less likely to have been employed by VA

• A significantly smaller percentage of Rural Providers said they routinely screened their patients for Military, Veteran or family status• 37% of Rural vs. 47% of Non-Rural

Disparities in Knowledge and Confidence Among Community Providers: Rural Matters!

• Rural Providers were significantly more likely than Non-Rural providers to report knowledge and/or competence problems in treating:• PTSD• Depression• Substance abuse/dependence• Suicidality

Needed:On behalf of Service Members, Veterans

and their families:

Military and Veteran friendly principles and practices as part of a public health intervention

Treating the Invisible Wounds of Warwww.aheconnect.com/citizensoldier

• Free, accredited on-line trainings:• Military Families• Deployment Mental Health• Deployment Primary Care• Women Veterans• Employment Assistance Programs

• 20,000+ community providers and stakeholders have completed at least one training

• National HRSA Grant trained 11,000+ more community providers

• Searchable Provider Database at www.WarWithin.org

• 1,500+ providers nationally• 1,200+ providers in NC

• 96 of 100 NC counties• Developed by the Citizen Soldier Support

Program in partnership with the VISN 6 MIRECC

Keys to Building Military-Friendly Practices & Health Systems

1. Ask each patient “Have you or someone close to you served in the military?”

• Train providers/students to ask• Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)

• Incentivize• NC BC/BS as a model, replicable project

2. Flag military experience (including military family status) in medical record

• EHR Aspect of AAMC Project/Meaningful Use

3. Train all staff on military cultural competence and basic deployment mental health

• DoD/VA Free Training: www.deploymentpsych.org/military-culture

Keys to Building Military-Friendly Practices and Health Systems

4. Connect providers with support on military medical issues including

• www.aheconnect.com/citizensoldier • Defense Centers of Excellence• VA National Center for PTSD

5. List trained providers/programs in a national referral database accessible to:

• Warfighters and family members in need of referral• Providers, employers, college officials, congregational

leaders and other stakeholders seeking consultation or to make a referral

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  1.Have you or someone close to you served in the military? 2. When and where did you/he/she serve?  3. What do/did you/he/she do in the military? 4. Has your/his/her military experience affected your:  a. Physical Health?

b. Mental Health?  c. Family?  d. Work?

  e. Other aspects of your life?(If your patient answers “Yes” to any of these questions, ask:

“Can you tell me more about that?”)

Draft Version of the First 4 Questions from the VA Office of Academic Affiliations Military Health

History Pocket Cards(http://www.va.gov/oaa/pocketcard/)

As They Might be Adapted for Use in an Electronic Health Record

Key VA Websites for Community Providers• http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/c

ommunityproviders• New from VA Office of Mental

Health • http://maketheconnection.net

• For Veterans, families and providers

• http://www.ptsd.va.gov/• VA’s National Center for PTSD

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The Big Blue Button

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Focus On Homeless Veterans

• VA Services for Homeless Veterans were originally part of Mental Health but has grown to incorporate broader questions central to addressing the needs of Veterans and their families

• These include:• Health services beyond Mental Health• Housing Initiatives

• Grant & Per Diem• HUD VASH• Jobs• Family Services• Community Outreach

Applying the Public Health Model to Homelessness

• If state and local programs for the homeless don’t ask every client if they or someone in their family is a Veteran (a spouse, a parent, a child), they are less likely to find their way to VA Homeless services

• If organizations collect this information but don’t/can’t share it with VA, it can’t be put to good use

• Community providers need to know that Veterans are particularly vulnerable to homelessness which may come at the end of a downward spiral years after return to civilian life• Women Veterans are at greater risk of Homelessness than the average

American Woman• Community partners in every aspect of homelessness should know

something about military culture, military history, possible effects of deployment stress on Service Members and their Families and deployment- related MH issues including Substance Abuse

VA Homeless Coordinators and Community Partners Have a Unique Opportunity to Drive Public Health Principles and Transform National Models of Care

• Recognizing Veterans and their families in the community (including among the Homeless) and preserving them as families may be the first and most critical step in engaging Veterans in effective action on deployment-related mental health problems such as PTSD, TBI and substance abuse

• The Veteran’s perceived social support from his/her family is one of the strongest predictors of either not having PTSD or of positive outcomes in PTSD

• This “Families and Housing First” perspective is a core component of the Public Health model

While Doing This, Remember:• Veterans should not be discharged from housing

programs because of mental health issues, substance abuse or minor violations

• Rather, these problems should drive new opportunities for Veteran care and Community Partnership

• Clinical and administrative experience teach that the treatment of comorbid PTSD, Substance Abuse and Homelessness is most successful when it is integrated rather than broken into successive steps

• This idea is enshrined in the term “Housing First”!• Believe it!• Preserving a family preserves a home!

The VisionThere will be

No Wrong Doorto which ANY Service Member,

Veteran or family member can come for the right help

With your help, this is an achievable goal!

QUESTIONS?