VA Secretary Collins: Michigan veterans' health care is changing lives
At the Battle Creek VA Medical Center, I witnessed firsthand the facility's commitment to innovative treatments with the opening of a new ketamine clinic, enhancing our approach to PTSD, depression and substance use disorders. I also toured the outpatient mental health programs and met with veterans in our Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program. Led by Dr. Rogelio Rodriguez, the clinic follows a recovery-centered model. There, I met veterans who courageously shared their paths to healing and how efforts at the Battle Creek VA saved their lives.
Over at the Lt. Col. Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, teams are providing some of the most advanced specialty care in the country. It's the only facility in the state with an interventional cardiology program and the only one offering Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement — a minimally invasive, life-saving procedure for Veterans with heart disease. This is high-quality, high-tech and veteran-centered care.
More from Freep Opinion: Detroit property values are rising ― and rental rates are going up
I also spent time learning how our teams are comprehensively tackling two of the most urgent challenges we face: preventing veteran homelessness and suicide.
In Ann Arbor, the Homeless Veterans Program is helping more than 2,400 veterans across southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio. It's a team-based approach that coordinates efforts among the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program housing vouchers, VA case management and Supportive Services for Veteran Families. Through this holistic approach, low-income veterans can maintain housing or quickly find shelter. They've also launched Michigan's first Veterans Response Team, which connects veterans in crisis to housing and services on the spot.
That's the kind of impact we're working to deliver every day.
Meanwhile, Ann Arbor is setting the bar for suicide prevention. More than 1,000 veterans at elevated risk for suicide are being closely monitored through the REACH VET Dashboard. Dozens of outreach events have already taken place this year and staff are trained in VA S.A.V.E. — an evidence-based program that teaches how to identify warning signs and connect Veterans to help. It's tough, emotional work — but it's saving lives.
That kind of success doesn't just happen — it's the result of teamwork, trust and a shared commitment to do what's right for those who've served from Detroit to Muskegon and Ann Arbor to Kalamazoo.
More from Freep Opinion: My autistic son is a gift to the world. RFK Jr. doesn't get it.
While this great work continues, there is more work to be done. We're continuing to push for smarter ways to serve veterans.
While the VA's budget and number of employees have grown over the years, its wait times and claims backlog had increased.
Therefore, we're reforming the VA to eliminate the waste and bureaucracy that have gotten in the way of veteran care for years — problems no one has attempted to fix until now. As part of this effort, we're going to maintain the VA's mission-essential jobs like doctors, nurses and claims processors, while phasing out non-mission essential roles like interior designers and DEI officers. The savings we achieve will be redirected to veteran health care and benefits.
One of the biggest upgrades on the horizon is the accelerated rollout of the VA's new electronic health record. The system will go live next year at 13 VA medical facilities, including four in Michigan — Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Detroit and Saginaw. This will give veterans in Michigan and around the country a single, consistent record that follows them from their military service through the remainder of their lives. It'll streamline coordination with the Department of Defense and improve care across the VA and with community providers.
Under President Donald Trump, the VA is working to increase productivity, eliminate waste and bureaucracy, increase efficiency, and improve health care and benefits to veterans. Our work continues because veterans in Michigan and across the nation deserve nothing less than continuous improvement.
Doug Collins (@SecVetAffairs) is the 12th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. If you are veteran who needs VA assistance, please call 1-800-MyVA411 (1-800-698-2411).
Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online and in print. If you have a differing view from a letter writer, please feel free to submit a letter of your own in response.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: VA secretary: Here's how we're changing veterans health care | Opinion
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Maryland hospital earns national honor for aneurysm procedure
Meritus Medical Center has been recognized as a High Performing hospital for abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings. The designation is the highest distinction available in the publication's annual Procedures & Conditions ratings, according to a community announcement. The recognition places Meritus among the top-performing hospitals nationwide for the complex vascular procedure, which involves replacing a weakened section of the body's main artery with a synthetic graft to prevent rupture. U.S. News evaluated more than 4,400 hospitals across 22 procedures and conditions, with only about one-third earning a High Performing rating. Strong scores in patient experience, staffing Meritus scored better than average in several key areas, including prevention of prolonged hospital stays, patient experience and nurse staffing and communication, according to the announcement. 'Our team members at Meritus Medical Center come to work every day patient-focused and community obsessed,' said Carrie Adams, Pharm.D., chief operating officer. 'Earning this Best Hospitals award from U.S. News & World Report reinforces our team's commitment, and we couldn't be prouder.' The annual rankings are designed to help patients and providers make informed decisions about where to seek care for serious or elective procedures. The methodology includes analysis of more than 800 million patient records and considers factors such as mortality rates, preventable complications and nursing care levels. 'Hospitals designated as 'High Performing' by U.S. News demonstrate a consistent ability to provide excellent care,' said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News & World Report. More information about Meritus Medical Center is available at This story was created by David DeMille, ddemille@ with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Meritus Medical Center ranks high on U.S. News report Solve the daily Crossword
CBS News
7 hours ago
- CBS News
North Texas military veterans face sharp cuts to VA-funded in-home care
Veterans in North Texas who depend on federal funding for in-home care are seeing major cutbacks, forcing some to give up the independence of living in their homes. The CBS News Texas I-Team first reported in April that many veterans were receiving fewer approved hours through the Department of Veterans Affairs' Homemaker Home Health Aide (H/HHA) Program. The program is designed to help veterans live independently by sending aides to assist with daily tasks such as bathing, dressing and housekeeping. While the number of North Texas veterans enrolled in the H/HHA program has increased in recent years, the percentage of veterans who receive more than 20 hours per week of in-home care has steadily gone down in the past year, according to an analysis of data provided by the VA. Veterans enrolled in the program who receive more than 20 hours a week of in-home care has dropped from 37% in June of 2024 to 11% in June 2025. A VA spokesperson told the I-Team there had been some confusion about the scope of the program. To fix that, the VA North Texas Health Care System recently rolled out a new system to make sure hours are being approved consistently and correctly. One of the veterans affected is an 80-year-old Marine veteran from Denton who is suffering from cancer linked to exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. He asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation. The VA determined his disability rating was 100%, which represents how the disability impacts overall health and ability to function. The rating also determines what level of benefits veterans are eligible for. The Marine veteran had been receiving 37 hours of in-home care each week. The support allowed him and his wife, who has Alzheimer's disease, to remain in their home. But last summer, without warning, the VA cut his in-home care to 13 hours per week. With less help, the veteran said he had no choice but to move into assisted living. "I can't take care of my wife because I can't get help for me," he said, holding back tears. "That's what's hurtful about it." Nagraj Venkataraman, owner of BrightStar Care of Denton, a home health care agency, said all his veteran clients in the program — more than a dozen — have seen similar cuts. "If there is one segment of the population that needs help, it's our veterans," he said. "It's our duty to give back to them. That shouldn't be a cliché. It should be real." Marine veteran James Carey of Heath, Texas, also knows firsthand how devastating the cuts can be. Fifteen years ago, a training accident at Camp Pendleton left him with a traumatic brain injury. Now 38, Carey is blind, unable to move his body and suffers from dementia. Until this year, Carey had been receiving care from the VA around the clock. But in January, the VA reduced it to 16 hours per week. After multiple appeals, his hours were raised to 50 — still far less than what he had been receiving. His mother, Kim Carey, has been his primary caregiver. But she said she can't do it alone. "Why do we have to keep paying that price every day?" she said. "Why do we have to beg the VA to give him the benefits he earned?" The VA insists that no national policy has changed. In a statement, the VA told the I-Team there was some confusion about what the program was supposed to cover, stating the H/HHA is "not meant for housekeeping or 24/7 care." But the VA's own website lists housekeeping in a video as one of the services the program can provide — and does not mention any limits on hours. The VA North Texas Health Care System provided H/HHA services to 7,939 veterans in 2024 and 8,196 so far in 2025. The VA also pointed to other services available to veterans, including the Caregiver Support Program, medical foster homes and nursing homes.
The Intercept
14 hours ago
- The Intercept
Trump Prepares to Revoke Lifesaving Abortion Care for Veterans
President Donald Trump appears poised to institute an abortion ban for hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs — escalating his war on reproductive health care by revoking veterans' access to abortion. The Office of Management and Budget concluded its review last week of a Veterans Affairs rule titled Reproductive Health Services, clearing the way to implement it at the VA. Experts believe the rule is a reversal of a Biden-era policy of the same name which ended the agency's ban on abortion counseling for veterans and allowed for VA providers to offer abortion services in limited circumstances, such as rape, incest, or endangerment of a pregnant person's life or health. If the policy is overturned, hundreds of thousands of veterans in states with abortion bans could lose access to abortion care and counseling. Sarah Baker, the digital director for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the change appears to be 'the first nationwide abortion ban that Trump is supporting and putting in place.' The new rule has not yet been published, and until it is, experts can't be certain what exactly is in it. The VA did not respond to The Intercept's request for comment. But Rachel Fey, vice president of policy and strategic partnerships at the reproductive and sexual health advocacy organization Power to Decide, said that based on the Trump administration's posture and explicit calls in Project 2025 to reverse the Biden policy, she expects one of two outcomes. 'We think either they would roll back the exceptions to an extremely narrow set that mimics the Hyde Amendment,' Fey said, referring to a law that bars federal funds from being used for abortion care except in cases of rape, incest, or to save a person's life. (The Hyde Amendment does not allow exceptions to preserve a person's health in non-fatal circumstances, as the Biden rule does.) Or, Fey said, another possibility is 'just striking [the Biden rule] entirely and saying abortion is not allowed in any circumstances at the VA.' The Biden administration implemented the Reproductive Health Services rule for the VA in 2024, two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Though the rule only allows VA hospitals to provide abortions in extreme circumstances, it was designed to provide basic protections in states that moved quickly to institute abortion bans. Read Our Complete Coverage Over half of all women veterans of reproductive age in the U.S. live in states where abortion is banned or likely to be banned, according to analysis from the National Partnership for Women & Families. 'So that's 345,000 women veterans that live in states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion,' said Jaclyn Dean, director of congressional relations, reproductive health, at the National Partnership for Women & Families. 'For many of the women veterans living in any of those 12 states with total abortion bans, the VA is the only place that they can get abortion care. So you can expect those people to lose abortion care in cases of rape, incest, in the life and health of the pregnant person.' In that climate, Fey stressed, even narrowing the exceptions could be devastating. 'What we've seen in states like Texas and Idaho is women coming close to death, suffering the loss of future fertility sometimes, suffering long-term disability because they were not given the standard clinical care they needed when they needed it,' Fey said. 'That's what we're talking about when we get to a life exception versus a health exception.' Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., who co-authored a letter in April opposing the rule change along with 130 House Democrats, said reversing the Biden rule was a 'betrayal.' 'As a physician, I trained at the VA, where a sign at the entrance read: 'The price of freedom is visible here.' Our veterans sacrificed everything for this country, and in return, we promised them the best care possible,' Dexter wrote in a statement to The Intercept. 'For Trump to reinstate a complete ban on abortion care and counseling at the VA – even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life or health of the mother — is an utter betrayal of that promise.' Veterans also face unique health risks related to pregnancy, said Baker with the Center for Reproductive Rights. 'Pregnancy is just riskier for veterans,' said Baker, 'because of the different health risks that they face, higher rates of sexual assault, higher rates of PTSD … and the higher [rates of] other chronic conditions.' And restricting or cutting off access to abortion would only compound the additional barriers to accessing quality health care that veterans already face, Fey noted. 'Serving in the U.S. military is often a way out of poverty for a lot of people in this country, and because of systemic racism, a disproportionate number of the people looking for that way out are Black and brown women when they serve in the military,' said Fey. 'When we talk about reproductive health care in this country, the harms don't fall equally.' The Trump administration has been steadily chipping away at policies put in place by President Joe Biden to protect access to reproductive health care. In June, Trump rescinded guidance from the Biden administration that directed hospitals under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act to provide stabilizing treatment to patients in medical emergencies — including abortion care. 'It's all part of this larger plan of extremists to ban abortion wherever they can and to interfere with people's personal medical decisions,' said Dean. 'They're weaponizing control over veterans' health care, instead of doing what's actually best for our country's veterans, which is giving them the health care that they need.'
