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  "id": "R43587",
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      "title": "The Veterans Health Administration and Medical Education: In Brief",
      "summary": "In the wake of World War II, an influx of veterans requiring medical care threatened to overwhelm the capacity of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide such care. In 1946, the VA began entering into affiliations with medical schools as one strategy to increase capacity\u2014both in the short term and in the long term. In the short term, some trainees\u2014in particular, those in the later years of training\u2014may provide direct care to patients, thereby increasing provider capacity and patient access. In the long term, training physicians at the VA creates a pipeline for recruiting physicians as VA employees. Current concerns about the VA\u2019s capacity to provide access to care have returned attention to the role of medical training at the VA. \nThe VA is the largest provider of medical training in the United States and is involved in training at all levels: medical students, medical residents, and medical fellows. VA\u2019s physician training programs are conducted primarily through its affiliations with medical schools and, in some instances, with teaching hospitals. In general, the purpose of these affiliation agreements is to enhance patient care and education, but some may also include medical research. Under these affiliation agreements, the VA and the relevant educational institution share responsibility for the academic program. The affiliation agreement promotes common standards for patient care, medical student and resident education, research, and staff appointments. \nGenerally, the VA is not the primary sponsor of medical education. Specifically, the VA does not operate its own medical school, but medical students from an affiliated institution may do a clinical rotation at an affiliated VA facility. Similarly, the VA does not typically operate its own residency programs (called graduate medical education or GME); instead, residents would apply to the medical school or teaching hospital that is the primary sponsor of the residency program and then would spend a portion of their residency training at the VA. The exception to this model is fellowship level training, which occurs after a medical school graduate has completed a residency program. In limited instances, the VA directly operates fellowship training programs in subspecialties that are of high importance to the VA. \nThe majority of VA facilities and the majority of U.S. medical schools (both allopathic and osteopathic) have affiliation agreements to train physicians. \nThe VA is the second largest federal payer for medical training after Medicare\u2019s GME payments. Medicare GME payments were $11.2 billion in FY2013, compared with VA\u2019s spending of approximately $1.5 billion in GME training in FY2015. Funds appropriated for the VA health care system are divided into two major components: General Purpose funding and Specific Purpose funding, both of which support some aspects of physician training. \nGeneral purpose funds are distributed at the start of the fiscal year to the Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) and are used in part to fund administrative costs of residency training programs. \nSpecific purpose funds are generally administered centrally and are provided to VA medical facilities to fund, among other things, residents\u2019 stipends and fringe benefits.",
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      "id": 455956,
      "date": "2016-09-21",
      "retrieved": "2016-11-28T21:32:28.174121",
      "title": "The Veterans Health Administration and Medical Education: In Brief",
      "summary": "In the wake of World War II, an influx of veterans requiring medical care threatened to overwhelm the capacity of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide such care. In 1946, the VA began entering into affiliations with medical schools as one strategy to increase capacity\u2014both in the short term and in the long term. In the short term, some trainees\u2014in particular, those in the later years of training\u2014may provide direct care to patients, thereby increasing provider capacity and patient access. In the long term, training physicians at the VA creates a pipeline for recruiting physicians as VA employees. Current concerns about the VA\u2019s capacity to provide access to care have returned attention to the role of medical training at the VA. \nThe VA is the largest provider of medical training in the United States and is involved in training at all levels: medical students, medical residents, and medical fellows. VA\u2019s physician training programs are conducted primarily through its affiliations with medical schools and, in some instances, with teaching hospitals. In general, the purpose of these affiliation agreements is to enhance patient care and education, but some may also include medical research. Under these affiliation agreements, the VA and the relevant educational institution share responsibility for the academic program. The affiliation agreement promotes common standards for patient care, medical student and resident education, research, and staff appointments. \nGenerally, the VA is not the primary sponsor of medical education. Specifically, the VA does not operate its own medical school, but medical students from an affiliated institution may do a clinical rotation at an affiliated VA facility. Similarly, the VA does not typically operate its own residency programs; instead, residents would apply to the medical school or teaching hospital that is the primary sponsor of the residency program and then would spend a portion of their residency training at the VA. The exception to this model is fellowship level training where the VA directly operates fellowship training programs in subspecialties that are of high importance to the VA. \nThe majority of VA facilities and the majority of U.S. medical schools (both allopathic and osteopathic) have affiliation agreements to train physicians. \nThe VA is the second largest federal payer for medical training after Medicare\u2019s GME payments. Medicare GME payments were $11.2 billion in FY2013, compared with VA\u2019s spending of approximately $1.5 billion in GME training in FY2015. Funds appropriated for the VA health care system are divided into two major components: General Purpose funding and Specific Purpose funding, both of which support some aspects of physician training. \nGeneral purpose funds are distributed at the start of the fiscal year to the Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) and are used in part to fund administrative costs of residency training programs. \nSpecific purpose funds are generally administered centrally and are provided to VA medical facilities to fund, among other things, residents\u2019 stipends and fringe benefits.",
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      "id": 448901,
      "date": "2016-01-19",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T17:28:00.230867",
      "title": "The Veterans Health Administration and Medical Education: A Fact Sheet ",
      "summary": "In the wake of World War II, an influx of veterans requiring medical care threatened to overwhelm the capacity of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide such care. In 1946, the VA began entering into affiliations with medical schools as one strategy to increase capacity\u2014both in the short term and in the long term. In the short term, some trainees\u2014in particular, those in the later years of training\u2014may provide direct care to patients, thereby increasing provider capacity and patient access. In the long term, training physicians at the VA creates a pipeline for recruiting physicians as VA employees. Current concerns about the VA\u2019s capacity to provide access to care have returned attention to the role of medical training at the VA. \nThe VA is the largest provider of medical training in the United States and is involved in training at all levels: medical students, medical residents, and medical fellows. VA\u2019s physician training programs are conducted primarily through its affiliations with medical schools and, in some instances, with teaching hospitals. In general, the purpose of these affiliation agreements is to enhance patient care and education, but some may also include medical research. Under these affiliation agreements, the VA and the relevant educational institution share responsibility for the academic program. The affiliation agreement promotes common standards for patient care, medical student and resident education, research, and staff appointments. Generally, the VA is not the primary sponsor of medical education. Specifically, the VA does not operate its own medical school, but medical students from an affiliated institution may do a clinical rotation at an affiliated VA facility. Similarly, the VA does not typically operate its own residency programs instead, residents would apply to the medical school or teaching hospital that is the primary sponsor of the residency program and then would spend a portion of their residency training at the VA. The exception to this model is fellowship level training where the VA directly operates fellowship training program in subspecialties that are of high importance to the VA. \nThe majority of VA facilities and the majority of U.S. medical schools (both allopathic and osteopathic) have affiliation agreements to train physicians. \nThe VA is the second largest federal payer for medical training after Medicare\u2019s GME payments. Medicare GME payments were $11.2 billion in FY2013, compared with VA\u2019s spending of approximately $1.5 billion in GME training in FY2015. Funds appropriated for the VA health care system are divided into two major components: General Purpose funding and Specific Purpose funding, both of which support some aspects of physician training. \nGeneral purpose funds are distributed at the start of the fiscal year to the Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) and are used in part to fund administrative costs of residency training programs. \nSpecific purpose funds are generally administered centrally and are provided to VA medical facilities to fund, among other things, residents\u2019 stipends and fringe benefits.",
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      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc812773/",
      "id": "R43587_2014Jun06",
      "date": "2014-06-06",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "The Veterans Health Administration and Medical Education: A Fact Sheet",
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  "topics": [
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    "Veterans Policy"
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}