UCA Seeks Input from Urgent Care Operators on VA Contracting ‘Barriers’

The Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Community Care (OCC) has said publicly that it wants to help veterans gain greater access to healthcare outside of the VA system. Naturally, as part of its contracting process, the OCC requires prospective contractors who want to treat those enrollees beyond the walls of a VA facility to share a fair amount of information. A lot of it is what you’d expect: name, address, DEA number, phone, fax, National Provider Identifier number…. However, the OCC also demands that healthcare providers—including urgent care operators—provide their Social Security number if they want to see enrollees. Not surprisingly, many have taken issue with that practice. If you’re one of them, the Urgent Care Association wants to know. UCA has put out a call to any urgent care providers or operators who view the intrusive nature of the requirements as a barrier to contracting with the VA, asking that you let Nirja Shah know of your concerns at [email protected]. UCA plans to initiate a dialogue with the VA on how to improve veteran’s access to urgent care centers.