Office of Patient Care Services (PCS)
The Office of Patient Care Services (PCS) in Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is dedicated to ensuring the full continuum of health care, which comprises health promotion, disease prevention, diagnostics, therapeutic and rehabilitative care, recovery and palliative care. PCS provides care through policy and program development that promotes dignity and respect, and is achieved by utilizing innovative approaches and technologies through interdisciplinary collaboration both within and outside of VA.
VA's Top Priorities
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Douglas A. Collins outlined his key focus areas for the VA. Those priorities—including ensuring timely access to care, putting Veterans at the center of everything VA does, preventing Veteran suicide and ending Veteran homelessness—are at the heart of VHA’s mission to care for Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.
Key Focus Areas:
- Deliver timely access to care and benefits for every eligible Veteran, family member, caregiver and survivor.
- Put Veterans at the center of everything VA does, focusing relentlessly on customer service and convenience.
- Challenge the status quo in order to find new and better ways of helping VA beneficiaries.
- Celebrate the vast majority of VA employees who do a great job every day and hold employees accountable when they fall short of the mission.
- Provide Veterans with the health care choices they have earned while maintaining and improving VA’s direct health care capabilities.
- Do a better job reaching Veterans at risk of homelessness or suicide – especially those who have had no contact with VA.
VA is laser-focused on providing the best possible care and benefits to Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.
Secretary Collins’ message to Veterans and VA employees
GRECCs
Prevention
Recreation Therapy
GRECCs
Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (GRECCs)
The Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (GRECCs) program, which are VA centers for aging health, will celebrate 50 years of excellence in 2025. GRECC was set up by Congress in 1975. Now, there are 20 programs in VA medical centers nationwide, each linked to a major research university.
GRECCs are like engines for discovering new things, coming up with new ideas, and putting them into practice. They:
- Do research on aging and elderly care.
- Teach and train current and future experts in elderly care.
- Create, test, and spread new ways to improve health care for older Veterans.
GRECCs were created when aging became a special area of scientific study, around the same time the National Institute on Aging started. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Congress thought these centers were needed to help with the unique health care needs of growing numbers of older Veterans after WWII.
Prevention
Infection-Don't Pass It On
What you can do to reduce the spread of infection
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
- Stay home when you are sick and limit contact with others.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
- Get your seasonal flu shot.
Read more: National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Recreation Therapy
Recreation therapy is a treatment service designed to restore, remediate and rehabilitate a Veteran’s level of functioning and independence in life activities, promote health and wellness, and reduce or eliminate the activity limitations or restrictions caused by an illness or disabling condition.
Read about how Army Veteran Michael Martell trains for sled hockey at the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, - a program of VA’s Office of National Veterans Sports Programs and Special Events.
Partnerships with adaptive sports programs in local communities and at the national level have led to successes and improved the awareness of National Veterans Sports Programs and Special Events and clinics such as the Golden Age Games, and the National Creative Arts Festival.
PCS Program Offices
PCS service areas/programs and more than 1,000 employees whose dedication and commitment to excellence can be seen in their work on behalf of Veterans each and every day.
Biosurveillance Program
Caregiver Support Program(CSP)
Care Management and Social Work Services(CMSWS)
- Social Work
- Survivors Assistance and Memorial Support (SAMS) Program
- Fisher House Program
- Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Program (IPVAP)
- National Advance Care Planning via Group Program
- Post-9/11 Transition and Case Management
- VHA Liaisons to Health Care
- VA Liaisons for Health Care with Military Treatment Facilities
Geriatrics and Extended Care(GEC)
- Adult Day Health Care
- Home Based Primary Care
- Homemaker and Home Health Aide Care
- Hospice Care
- Palliative Care
- Respite Care
- Skilled Home Health Care
- Remote Monitoring Care
- Veteran-Directed Care
- Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Centers(GRECC)
VET-HOME Portal
- Health Outcomes Military Exposures (VET-HOME)
- War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC)
LGBTQ+ Health Program
National Center for Ethics in Health Care (NCEHC)
National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention(NCPDP)
- MOVE! Weight Management Program
Office of Health Equity(OHE)
Office of Nursing Services(ONS)
Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation(OPCC&CT)-Whole Health
Office of Rural Health(ORH)
Office of Sterile Processing(OSP)
Physician Assistant Services(PAS)
Pharmacy Benefits Management Services(PBM)
Public Health National Program Office(PHNPO)
Rehabilitation and Prosthetic Services(RPS)
- Audiology
- Amputation System of Care (ASoC)
- Speech Pathology
- Blind Rehabilitation
- Chiropractc Care
- Clinical Orthotic and Prosthetic
- Adaptive Sports and Arts
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• Kinesiotherapy
• Occupational Therapy
• Physical Therapy
- Polytrauma/TBI System of Care
- Prosthetic and Sensory Aids (PAS)
- Recreation Therapy
- Creative Arts Therapy
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