Jacobetti Home for Veterans starts VA records pilot program

MARQUETTE — The Jacobetti Home for Veterans works hard to stay at the forefront of medical care for those that have served our country. It’s become the first U.S. veterans’ home to do something new with one of its records.

The home’s administrator was president of the National Association of State Veterans Homes from September 2013 until this past September. During that time, he had to work closely with the federal VA, and he heard about a VA program that caught his interest.

“The VA has a pilot program where they wanted to turn some paper processes into electronic processes,” Jacobetti Home administrator Brad Slagle said. “I happened to be part of a meeting where they were discussing this, and so I volunteered the Jacobetti Home to be the pilot location.”

Every time a veteran is admitted, the Jacobetti Home has to fill out a specific VA form to document the care that the veteran needs. It includes medical, nursing, physical therapy, social services and other areas.

That form is now electronic.

“The old form had a little, inconspicuous check box that was easy to miss, so when we feel that a veteran is here for a service-connected disability and he should be able to live here for free, this new process enables us to be more effective in documenting that,” Slagle said.

The program needed about a year of shakedown time, but it’s now up and running. The Jacobetti Home submitted its first two live electronic forms to the VA last Friday.