As the nation observes Veterans Day, NJHA is honored to welcome several former service members into its ranks to serve in new roles as health navigators.

In two new initiatives, NJHA is training veterans to serve their fellow service members and other N.J. residents in accessing behavioral health services and in avoiding readmissions by getting the right preventative and follow-up care. These navigators will help veterans and others with insurance enrollment, referrals for screenings and other health services, access to behavioral health services and connections to social service agencies.

“It’s a sad reality that our returning veterans all too often fall through the cracks of our healthcare delivery system,” said NJHA President and CEO Betsy Ryan. “The need for behavioral health support is particularly high. We are fortunate to have a corps of compassionate and committed veterans join us in a new call to service – helping their military colleagues and other New Jerseyans get the healthcare services they need.”

The initiative has two components:

• The Veterans Mental Health Care Navigators project is a three-year project to offer peer support to veterans and military families in need of behavioral health services. Data shows that as many as half of war veterans in the VA system have a mental disorder diagnosis such as post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, but many do not receive treatment. NJHA’s employed veterans will be trained in Mental Health First Aid and help veterans and their families navigate the healthcare system to access the screening, healthcare services and social support they need.
• The Community-Based Pilot Project to Reduce Readmissions is part of the Partnership for Patients-NJ quality improvement initiative. It trains veterans in the “Health COACH” model of healthcare consumer engagement, which uses a data-driven process to identify trends in the use of healthcare services, particularly in the emergency department, and then seeks to help healthcare consumers navigate the system more efficiently, using primary care and preventive services instead of seeking care in the ED. In addition to helping consumers get the healthcare services they need, one of the project’s goals is to reduce New Jersey’s rate of hospital readmissions. The project will provide a special focus on helping residents manage behavioral health services and chronic conditions.

Approximately 10 veterans are being hired to staff the two programs. Click here for more on this initiative.