Establishing a mobile health and wellness program for rural veterans

The US Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, Virginia provides mobile access to health care for over 4000 veterans in southwestern Virginia. This innovative program has joined community outreach with increased use of advanced practice nurses to provide health screenings, risk identification and stratification, education, and enrollment to veterans living in the facility's predominantly rural primary service area. Concurrently, veterans are placed within a comprehensive continuum of care through nurse practitioner intake and assessment clinics, primary care, or routine care every 4 months, with follow-up using the mobile program. Salem's mobile program is extremely effective in its clinical management and fiscal outcomes.