Mercer County, NJ, Sep 10, 2010 - A modern Community-Based Outpatient Clinic to serve the health care needs of area veterans was officially opened this week highlighted at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by veteran leaders and officials from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

    "I’m pleased to see the VA make this commitment to the veterans of the Mercer County area," said Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), who participated in the ribbon cutting. “Our veterans have already performed their service to their country. Now we must do the same for them. Outpatient clinics bring services closer to where vets live.”

    Smith, who was instrumental in bringing the clinic to the previous site in Trenton in 1996, spoke to veterans leaders and thanked the VA nurses and doctors who work at the clinic. He was joined by Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo, New Jersey VA Health Care services Director Ken Mizrach, State of New Jersey Deputy Commissioner of Veterans Affairs, Raymond L. Zawacki, and Chief of Community Based Outpatient Clinics, Jim McClain, and other officials.

    “They were in Trenton and they outgrew the facility,” NJ Veterans Department Commander Bobby Looby told local TV station WZBN. “This is a great location for the veterans to come. It’s a good job by the VA.” 

    Due to the increased demand for veteran services, the VA needed a larger facility and chose the 3635 Quakerbridge Road site near the Hamilton, West Windsor and Lawrence township boundaries. The VA estimates that over 6,000 veterans will be returning to the Mercer area from service in the Middle East in the future, and the new facility can accommodate the growth. The site is also on a public bus route, close to the Hamilton rail station and close to major transportation arteries I-295 and U.S. Route 1.

    In the 1990s, the then-U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) began developing a strategy to expand its capacity to provide outpatient primary care, especially for veterans who had to travel long distances to receive care at VA facilities. To facilitate access to primary care closer to where veterans reside, VA established regional networks and decentralized certain budgetary authorities to these networks.  VHA then began implementing a system for approving and establishing Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs).

    A CBOC is a fixed health care site that is geographically distinct or separate from its parent VA medical facility. The Hamilton CBOC is VA-owned and VA-staffed, and planning and development of a new CBOC is based on the VA’s need, available resources and local market circumstances. VA operates over 800 operational CBOCs throughout the United States and its territories to serve over 2.8 million veteran patients.

    In addition to primary care, CBOCs provide mental health services, management of acute and chronic medical conditions, and pharmacy benefits, among other services. It should be noted that the type of medical services available at a CBOC can vary from clinic to clinic.

    The local CBOC accommodated over 5,700 patient visits from the Mercer County area this year.

    Care is directed toward health promotion and disease prevention, management of acute and chronic medical conditions, and pharmacological management.

    VA research has indicated that CBOCs have improved mental health services through VA-mandated routine screening for depression, problem drinking, traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and military sexual trauma (MST). Psychiatrists, social workers, and mental health nurses are also utilized and work together with primary care staff to serve the mental health needs of vets. CBOC patients requiring specialty care, inpatient hospital services, or extended medical services are often referred to the parent VA medical facility in East Orange N.J.

    Research studies have indicated that CBOCs have improved geographic access to primary care and mental health services to veterans.  According to one study, increases in the number of CBOCs has improved access for veterans in underserved areas, resulting in a substantial increase in vets who use local VA services. While CBOCs provide closer access to VA care, it may also decrease beneficiary mileage travel reimbursements. Studies have also shown that CBOCs are providing a similar level quality of care as  larger primary care VA clinics provide, and  that CBOC costs are lower than costs for patients receiving care at parent VA primary care clinics.