VA Marks Benefits Milestone For Veterans
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced that its mobile app has now accumulated more than 3 million downloads since its launch in 2021.
The Health and Benefits app, which has 1.4 million active users, provides veterans access to information on health care and benefits.
It allows users to refill and track VA prescriptions, review appointments, review claims and appeals status, submit evidence for claims and appeals, review VA payment and direct deposit information, locate the closest VA facilities, access the Veterans Crisis Line and show proof of Veteran status.
VA Acting Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Acting Chief Information Officer Eddie Pool said: "VA's Health and Benefits app gives Veterans fast and convenient access to a host of important information, from appointments to prescriptions and benefits. We encourage all VA-enrolled Veterans to stay connected and informed by downloading the app."
File photo: the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington.
File photo: the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington.
Charles Dharapak/AP
This story will be updated.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
38 minutes ago
- Newsweek
If You're Squeamish—Avoid These Dog Breeds
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Dog owners can expect any breed to have bathroom accidents; it comes with the territory. However, those who are squeamish might want to avoid these six dog breeds that new research discovered are more susceptible to diarrhea. The study, published June 11 in PLOS One by Dan O'Neill from the United Kingdom's Royal Veterinary College and colleagues, analyzed veterinarian health records of over 2,250,000 dogs from 2019, revealing that about one in 12 dogs in the U.K. were diagnosed with acute diarrhea that year, or about 8.18 percent. The authors labeled this diagnosis as one of the most common clinical conditions in dogs viewed by primary veterinarians. Like humans, dogs can experience sudden loose or watery stools after food items and water pass too quickly through their gastrointestinal tract, an article from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine reported. Diarrhea can last anywhere from a few days to several weeks, affecting any breed. Six dog breeds—Maltese, Miniature Poodle, Cavapoo, German Shepherd, Yorkshire Terrier, and Cockapoo—were found to have the "highest annual incidence risk for acute diarrhea" when compared to crossbreeds. These dogs were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with diarrhea than generic crossbreeds. Meanwhile, Jack Russell terriers and Chihuahuas are less likely to be diagnosed with diarrhea. However, a dog's diet, exercise habits and an owner's likelihood of bringing their canine to the vet could affect whether those breeds have higher or lower predispositions to diarrhea, the authors wrote. A stock image of a small white and brown dog going to the bathroom outside in the grass. A stock image of a small white and brown dog going to the bathroom outside in the grass. Wavetop/Getty Images The study also found that age plays a role in the odds of a dog being diagnosed with acute diarrhea. The risk increases in dogs aged three and under, as well as adult dogs 9 years and older. The authors speculate that young, curious dogs scavenge and eat items they are not supposed to, leading to unpleasant accidents. While the older dogs with diarrhea could be due to an increase in medications or supplements they might need to take. The complications of aging. As time passes, dogs with diarrhea could experience dehydration. A dog's diarrhea could be a symptom of other health issues, which could require veterinary attention. Two-thirds of the appointments resulted in another diagnosis for the dog. This included 44 percent experiencing vomiting, 28 percent with a reduced appetite and 24 percent of dogs were lethargic, the study found. About 29 percent of all cases were classified as hemorrhagic, or bloody diarrhea. On the bright side, 80 percent of the canine owners who went to the vet for their dog's diarrhea did not require a second appointment. The study found most veterinarians treated diarrhea with probiotics, about 59 percent, dietary management (43 percent), antibiosis (38 percent), and maropitant (24 percent). The amount of antibiotics in treatment used raised concerns about "unnecessary antibiotic therapy" for acute diarrhea, as the authors stated that there have been years of recommendations to avoid high antibiotic use. Unnecessary use of antibiotics can lead to side effects, disrupt a dog's microbiome and could contribute to antibiotic resistance, an article from Visbiome Vet reported.
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Inside Hospitals' Digital Command Centers
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. During the winter of 2023, staff at Children's Mercy Kansas City were waiting for the "surge": a dreaded period when viral illnesses like influenza and RSV abound, leading to an increase in hospital admissions. But as the winter bled into 2024, it became clear that something had changed. Children were still getting sick and requiring advanced medical care. However, staff at Children's Mercy weren't "feeling the angst" like they had in years past, according to Dr. Jennifer Watts, the hospital's associate chief medical officer of acute care and inpatient operations. The difference, Watts said, came from technology. That was the hospital's first year using GE HealthCare's Command Center software, a product that allows it to digitally monitor care delivery and track patients' progress throughout their stay. It's like the "NASA" control hub for the health system, Watts told Newsweek. During the first winter partnering with GE, Children's Mercy staff began asking, "Is the surge here?" "They just didn't feel it," Watts said. "We were able to prepare. We were able to have [sufficient] staff present. We got rid of the scramble that typically occurs when you don't prepare for things." Hospital staff inside Children's Mercy Kansas City's Patient Progression Hub, which uses GE Healthcare Command Center technology to paint a real-time picture of hospital happenings. Hospital staff inside Children's Mercy Kansas City's Patient Progression Hub, which uses GE Healthcare Command Center technology to paint a real-time picture of hospital happenings. Children's Mercy Kansas City Patient Progression Hub Children's Mercy is one of 300 hospitals around the world that use GE's Command Center technology. As hospitals across the U.S. face rising demand for their services—driven, in part, by sicker patients and an aging population—many are turning to these digital "command centers" to improve operational efficiency and polish the patient experience. Before developing a Patient Progression Hub, driven by GE's tech, Children's Mercy was still dealing with inefficient and outdated processes, according to Watts. Different departments were playing "phone tag" with one another to move patients through the hospital. Information was not centralized, and it was common to see staff with packets of papers in front of them, pinning memos on bulletin boards and communicating with fax machines. Within seven months of implementing the Command Center technology, the hospital saw an 86 percent reduction in admission delays and cut avoidable bed days by 24 percent—creating capacity for 300 more medical-surgical patients without expanding its facility. The tech sits atop hospitals' preexisting systems, like staffing platforms and electronic health records (EHRs), to generate a comprehensive, real-time picture of the hospital's caseload and available resources. "The software really helps connect the strategy to the day-to-day operations," Bree Bush, general manager of GE's Command Center, told Newsweek. Kristie Barazsu is the president and COO of Duke Health Lake Norman Hospital in Mooresville, North Carolina, and oversees patient flow for Duke Health, which stood up Command Center in 2019. During COVID-19, the health system could use the technology to understand where positive patients were located and deploy personal protective equipment (PPE) from its logistics center. Command Center also utilizes predictive analytics to help hospitals plan for the future. Duke uses it to forecast the area's census, analyzing overall demand by unit, patient population and information has informed the health system's staffing plan, allowing it to reduce reliance on costly, temporary travel labor—and reducing labor expenses by approximately $40 million to date, according to Barazsu. Rather than viewing the hospitals within Duke's system as independent entities, a tech Command Center has enabled leadership to get the full picture, she added. The system can now move patients from one hospital to another more quickly, allowing it to free up bed space and accept more transfers from other health systems. "We're not relying on word of mouth or pagers or systems that don't work well," Barazsu told Newsweek. "There's one source of truth." Staff coordinate care inside UMass Memorial Health's new Digital Hub. Staff coordinate care inside UMass Memorial Health's new Digital Hub. UMass Memorial Health While some health systems are partnering with a tech provider like GE, others are developing internal solutions to manage demand—and to keep tabs on a broadening menu of digital services. UMass Memorial Health has been on the forefront of the digital revolution, according to Dr. Eric Alper, its vice president, chief quality and chief clinical informatics officer. The health system was an early adopter of electronic intensive care unit (eICU) technology, which allows ICU staff to virtually connect with a critical care physician on overnight shifts. But a lot has changed since the advent of eICU tech about two decades ago, Alper told Newsweek. UMass Memorial used to run the service from a basement. Eventually it was supporting 150 critical care beds across the enterprise, and it was time for an upgrade. The health system recently stood up a new Digital Hub, a 20,000-square-foot home for its eICU services, and several other virtual programs, including interpreter services, remote video monitoring, mobile integrated health, "ED at Home," primary care and the Transfer and Access Center, which coordinates the comings and goings of patients across UMass Memorial hospitals. It might sound paradoxical to move virtual services to a physical location, but centralizing these operations has allowed for better communication, according to Alper, "We're collaborating more effectively by being in the same space, and that's allowing us to reduce some of the silos." An urgent care provider conducts a virtual visit from Sanford Health's Virtual Care Center. An urgent care provider conducts a virtual visit from Sanford Health's Virtual Care Center. Sanford Health Across the country in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, leaders at Sanford Health shared similar goals. The system stood up its own 60,000-square-foot Virtual Care Center in November, funded by a $350 million gift from its namesake Denny Sanford. In April, Newsweek followed up on the initiative with Dr. Dave Newman, Sanford's chief medical officer of virtual care. "One of the biggest things that the Virtual Care Center has done for Sanford is it emphasized the validity of virtual care and digital health," Newman told Newsweek. "The investment in the center and the space has shown that it's permanent, that this is what we're doing to help our patients, not just today or tomorrow but also 20 years from now." For Watts at Children's Mercy Kansas City, one incident stands out as a testament to the tech Command Center's importance. Anytime there is a mass casualty event, nearby hospitals need to prepare 20 percent of their beds to accept new patients. That's a challenge for most hospitals, given their daily capacity constraints—but when a shooter opened fire on the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl parade in February 2024, Children's Mercy was able to respond. "This occurred a mile from our children's hospital, and we had no idea up front how many victims we would be receiving," Watts said, "but we were able to use the results of [Command Center predictive] modeling to get us to a point where, yes, we could take 20 percent of our beds and treat all of the victims that may be coming through our doors." She's excited to see hospitals' virtual command centers and digital services grow, saying, "I think we have opened the Pandora's box here."
Newsweek
3 hours ago
- Newsweek
Map Shows States Invaded by Ants That Can Cause Life-Threatening Reaction
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Asian needle ants, an invasive species capable of causing life-threatening allergic reactions, have now been detected in at least 21 U.S. states. This species, first found in the U.S. in the 1930s, has established a significant presence from the Southeast to the Northwest, raising alarm among public health and environmental officials. The ants have been reported in states such as Wisconsin, Texas and Washington, according to ant tracking website Why It Matters The expanding presence of Asian needle ants poses a dual threat: immediate health risks due to their potentially deadly stings and long-term environmental disruption. In some individuals, Asian needle ant stings can cause anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction requiring emergency intervention, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Simultaneously, these ants compete with and displace native species, altering local ecosystems essential to agriculture and natural environments in the U.S. What To Know Widespread Detection in the United States The Asian needle ant, whose scientific name is Brachyponera chinensis, has now been verified in at least 21 states, largely concentrated in the northeastern and southeastern regions. Identification and Danger of Stings The Asian needle ant is a small, shiny, dark brown to black insect measuring about 0.2 inches in length, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The end of its antennae and legs are a lighter orange or brown color. The ant can be confused with similar species in the eastern U.S., making it more challenging to positively identify. The sting can cause intense localized pain, redness and hives. In a study in the native range of the Asian needle ant, 2.1 percent of people stung suffered from anaphylaxis. The U.S. Forest Service said the percentage of people in the U.S. who have developed hypersensitivity, or an allergic response that can lead to anaphylaxis, to Asian needle ant stings is unknown. Behavior, Ecology, and Spread Asian needle ants nest under logs, debris, stones, landscaping timbers, pavers, and mulch. The ants do not form easily visible foraging trails, University of Georgia urban entomology professor Dan Suiter told ABC News. While the species' population usually grows in warmer months, they often appear as early as March. The ants threaten native ant species, which play crucial roles in seed dispersal. Solitary ant. Solitary Precautions and Control Suiter recommended wearing gloves while working outside and removing nesting materials, such as stacked firewood, from properties. Professionals use bait-based controls that are not available to consumers. The care and precision required in the application of the bait aim to protect native species from collateral harm. What People Are Saying Dan Suiter, Orkin Distinguished Professor of urban entomology at the University of Georgia, in comments to ABC News: "In 25 years, I've had one phone call from an individual who was stung by a fire ant and suffered anaphylaxis, another one by something called a twig ant. When I start getting calls annually about people who have been stung by an Asian needle ant, it says to me that there's a trend there." Benoit Guénard, a professor of ecology and entomology at the University of Hong Kong who studied the ants in North Carolina, in comments to USA TODAY: "Imagine somebody inserting a needle directly into your flesh. It's a very sharp, acute pain but it's quite local." What Happens Next Researchers and environmental officials are continuing to track the range and impact of the Asian needle ant. Do you have a story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@
