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The excellent quality of care our Veteran patients receive at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center (WPB VAMC) is a result of the hard work and dedication of all our staff, volunteers and partners in the community. We are especially proud of the following accomplishments achieved for Fiscal Year 2014:
 
Access
• Implemented same day access for Primary Care and Mental Health.
• Extended hours for Primary Care appointments.
• Added Audiology services to 4 of our Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs); Teleaudiology is now available at 2 CBOCs. Expanded audiology hours at the medical center.
• Expanded Telehealth in the home to include Blind Rehabilitation, Speech, and Mental Health. Implemented Telewound and have a special consult Endocrinolgy Clinic with Orlando VA.
• 31,799 (53.06%) of our patients have signed up for secure messaging to contact their health care team.
• Of the 400 HUD-VASH (Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing) vouchers available, WPB VAMC has 363 Veterans leased in permanent housing and 30 Veterans with vouchers currently looking for apartments.
• Expanded Medical Foster Home program (alternate to a nursing home), located in Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties, to 18 homes.
• Added staff to augment our surgical program in the following areas: plastics, endovascular, invasive and endourolgy, and urologic oncology.
• Processed 16,543 Non-VA Care Coordination community referrals (43% increase from FY13).
 
Quality
• Recognized by The Joint Commission as a Top Performer for the following measure set(s): Heart Failure, Pneumonia, and Surgical Care.
• Had successful external surveys in Radiation Oncology, Long-Term Care, Pathology and Blood Bank.
• Exceeded targets related to 98% of VA Accountability Measures, 94% of Quality Indicators.
 
Satisfaction
• Groundbreaking occurred for a new 12-bed Hospice and Palliative Care Unit that is to be activated in 2015.
• Installed Wi-Fi in all inpatient areas, outpatient waiting rooms and conference rooms.
• Implemented Interactive Patient Care System that provides inpatients and patients located in ER with touch screen monitors that afford them access to entertainment, hospital information, educational videos, and Internet.
• Installed kiosks throughout the medical center to streamline the check-in process for Veterans.
• Trained 17 facilitators to assist with patient centered care training for all staff.
 
Employer Of Choice
• Achieved Health Equality Index Leader Status by Human Right Commission.
• 48% of our hires in FY 14 were Veterans for a total of 834 Veterans on board as of 9/30/14.
• Wellness Program installed new outside exercise equipment, established a SharePoint site for activities and offered several Lunch ‘N Learn sessions on various topics.
• Authorized 99 telework positions.
 
Cost Savings/Efficiencies
• Completed 18 LEAN/Six-Sigma projects with substantial sustained improvements; three were VA Network (Florida & Caribbean) award winners.
• Added three new dialysis stations to our unit with a projected savings in Non-VA Care of $500,000.
• Completed first renewable energy project by installing photovoltaic panels on two campus buildings that will reduce FP&L consumption by 50%.