The Department of Veteran Affairs is piloting a program to reduce nursing home care costs through caring for veterans at home, as opposed to institutions.
The agency is piloting the Choose Home Senior Corps program, which matches aging veterans with volunteers to help with various daily living tasks, Texas Public Radio reported.
The program is currently being tested in five cities across the United States: San Antonio, Pittsburg, Las Vegas, Colorado Springs and Glendive, MT.
The VA hopes the program will help reduce its nursing home care costs and keep veterans out of institutional care, such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities, according to the report. The agency spends about $6 billion on nursing home care annually. That number is expected to reach $10 billion by 2024.
The rise in costs comes as VA nursing home use increased by 3% between 2012 and 2017, a July report by the Government Accountability Office revealed. The average daily census at VA nursing homes also rose from 37,687 to 38,880 veterans during that time period.
The VA also projects home needs will increase 16% between fiscal years 2017 and 2022, fueled largely by aging Vietnam War veterans.
The agency has invested about $2 million to recruit and train 200 volunteers for the program in order to help curb those costs, the report stated.
“As technology improves and medical care improves — and people live longer — how can we respect them and honor their preferences to remain in the home as long as it’s safe to do so,” Scotte Hartronft, M.D., acting executive director of the VA Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care, told the news agency.
