Cooper University Health Care contracted WRI to evaluate their New Jersey Department of Health-funded Improving Health Care to Veterans Program. The program addresses the challenges of providing timely access to comprehensive primary and behavioral healthcare for veterans.
Veterans experience mental health disorders, substance abuse disorders, post-traumatic stress, and traumatic brain injury at disproportionate rates compared to civilians. The urgency to find alternative methods to address the identified needs of veterans increased as the struggles of the VA Medical Health system became a national news story. Partially in response to the struggles of the VA to serve veterans, and their existing expressed organizational goals, Cooper University Health Care (CUHC) launched and expanded existing programming to address veteran health issues as part of the Improving Healthcare to Veterans Grant program.
WRI has conducted a process and outcome evaluation, and provides recommendations to CUHC and the Department of Health for future practices and programming.