S02 D.8 VHA Bookable Hour and Appointment Length Standards Memorandum.pdf
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- Solicitation number
- 36C25726Q0159
About this file
This is an internal Department of Veterans Affairs memorandum issued by the Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Operations on August 22, 2022, establishing enterprise-wide bookable hour and appointment length standards for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).
The memorandum mandates that by November 30, 2022, all VHA facilities must ensure a minimum of 80% of each provider's total outpatient clinically mapped time is bookable for in-person, telephone, or telehealth care. Some providers and service types are exempt from this standard. Facility Chiefs of Staff must approve any provider-specific modifications using the VHA Bookable Hours Provider Exceptions LEAF Form, with each facility designating a point of contact by September 9, 2022. Facilities must apply standardized appointment length ranges for high-volume stop codes, though clinics operating effectively below the maximum ranges may continue current practices. Compliance must be confirmed through the extended FY22 Annual Clinic Review process, with a due date of November 30, 2022. Facilities adopting the Cerner Millennium Electronic Health Record are exempt for eight weeks prior to go-live and six months post-implementation. The memorandum emphasizes that successful implementation depends on accurate provider labor mapping and Account Level Budget Cost Center assignments. The VHA established these standards with input from field representatives including Chiefs of Staff, Service Chiefs, and Group Practice Managers. Implementation support resources are available through a SharePoint site, Q&A database, Microsoft Teams resource room (August 15-26, 2022), and five-week office hours series beginning August 31, 2022. All national union bargaining obligations have been met, and no local-level bargaining will occur.
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DEPARTMENT OF Memorandum
VETERANS AFFAIRS
Date: August 22, 2022
From: Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Operations (15)
Subj: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Bookable Hour and Appointment Length Standards
To: Veterans Integrated Service Network Directors (10N1-23) Medical Center Directors (00) VHA Senior Leaders
1. VHA has established enterprise-wide bookable hour and appointment length standards to improve access to care and workload equity among providers. By November 30, 2022, facilities must adhere to the following:
a. Ensure a minimum of 80% of a provider’s total outpatient clinically mapped time worked is bookable for in-person, telephone, or telehealth care. Some providers or service types are exempt from the bookable hours standard. Bookable hours do not need to be reduced if providers are already at or above the standard.
b. Decisions about provider-specific modifications to the bookable hours standard will be made at the facility level and will be approved by the Facility Chief of Staff using the VHA Bookable Hours Provider Exceptions LEAF Form. Provide one point of contact for the LEAF form for each facility through the VHA Provider Exception LEAF Form Point of Contact list by September 9, 2022.
c. Apply standardized appointment length ranges for high-volume stop codes. The appointment length ranges are maximums; clinics that are operating effectively with appointment lengths below the given range may elect to continue providing care in this manner.
d. Confirm that the bookable hour and appointment length standards are being met through the Fiscal Year (FY) 22 Annual Clinic Review process. The due date for the FY22 Annual Clinic Review has been extended from September 30, 2022, to November 30, 2022.
2. Successful implementation of these standards is predicated on accurate provider labor mapping and Account Level Budget Cost Center (ALBCC) assignments. Provider labor mapping and ALBCCs must be reviewed for each provider to ensure labor mapping and ALBCCs reflect current outpatient schedules and assignments.
3. The bookable hour and appointment length standards were set by Clinical Services and the Office of Integrated Veteran Care (IVC) with input from field representatives including Chiefs of Staff, Service Chiefs, and Group Practice Managers.
RFQ 36C25726Q0159 - Locum GI Physician Services https://dvagov.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/vhaovac/Bookable%20Hours%20and%20Appointment%20Lengths%20Standards/Implementation%20Toolkit/Bookable%20Hours%20Exemptions/VHABookableHours_Exemptions.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=RhxzY3 https://dvagov.sharepoint.com/sites/vhaovac/SitePages/LEAF-VHA-Bookable-Hours-Provider-Exemptions.aspx https://dvagov.sharepoint.com/sites/vhaovac/SitePages/LEAF-VHA-Bookable-Hours-Provider-Exemptions.aspx https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Ixtf6a-r7kWCHberJRqzv-lkQTRZdjZEtVY0S20YWq5UMkJHVFFTNlZKOENBREVaMExUNElTQkVOUS4u https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Ixtf6a-r7kWCHberJRqzv-lkQTRZdjZEtVY0S20YWq5UMkJHVFFTNlZKOENBREVaMExUNElTQkVOUS4u https://dvagov.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/vhaovac/Bookable%20Hours%20and%20Appointment%20Lengths%20Standards/Implementation%20Toolkit/Appointment%20Length%20Standards/VHA%20Appointment%20Length%20Standards.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=UVRKcB
Subj: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Bookable Hour and Appointment Length Standards
4. Facilities should follow guidance in this memorandum while directives are being updated.
Facilities adopting Cerner Millennium Electronic Health Record are exempt from the bookable hour and appointment length standards for 8 weeks prior to the facility go-live date and 6 months post-implementation.
5. Resources to support implementation are available on the Bookable Hours and Appointment Lengths Standards SharePoint site. In addition to the posted implementation resources, asynchronous and synchronous forums will be offered to answer questions regarding standards implementation.
a. A Q&A Database is available to submit a question or view a list of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers.
b. A Microsoft Teams resource room will be open August 15-26, 2022 from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
ET daily to support implementation and answer questions live.
c. A five-week office hours series with subject matter experts will begin on August 31, 2022, to answer your questions related to these standards. Office hours will be held on Microsoft Teams during the following dates and times:
• August 31,2022 at 3pm ET;
• September 7,2022 at 12pm ET;
• September 14, 2022 at 3pm ET;
• September 21, 2022, at 12pm ET;
• September 28 at 3pm ET.
6. All bargaining obligations have been met with all National unions. Bargaining related to implementation of these standards will not occur at the local level.
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