Last modified: March 17, 2021
Effective March 1, 2021, the community provider emergency notification process changed for health care professionals participating in the Veterans Affairs (VA) Community Care Network (CCN).
Approved emergency care
VA allows eligible Veterans to seek emergent medical care in a VA CCN-participating emergency department (ED) without a referral. For the care to be approved:
Starting March 1, VA will no longer accept email and fax emergency care notifications. You’ll have to notify VA of emergency care online or over the phone:
Ensure that you’re including an email address with your notification. VA will use this email address to send you an authorization decision, which could include an approved referral number that you’ll use with your claim.
Information safety
VA is also making a change to help ensure the safety of a Veteran’s personally identifiable information (PII). PII will no longer be included in VA emergency authorization decisions.
When you submit an emergency notification to VA, you’ll get a notification identification number. When VA makes an authorization decision and issues an approved referral number, the notification identification number will also be included. The authorization decision won’t include PII, so you’ll use the notification identification number to associate the approved referral with the Veteran and the emergency services. You’ll use the approved referral number when you file your claim.
Questions? Visit the VA emergency notification process site to learn more. You can find general VA CCN information and the VA CCN Provider Manual at provider.vacommunitycare.com.