VA officials acknowledge the need for privacy for telehealth therapy [View all]
Source: NPR
April 18, 2025 2:00 PM ET
The US Department of Veterans Affairs appears to be backing off a plan to send telehealth therapists back to offices that may lack privacy, according to a memo obtained by NPR.
Addressing widespread concerns over mental health clinicians' ability to conduct confidential sessions, officials from the VA have issued a memo saying that providers must have private workspaces "that foster trusted, confidential, and therapeutic relationships with Veterans," when they return to their offices in the coming weeks. The memo is dated April 12, and was issued to regional directors the day after NPR's latest reporting on this issue, which followed other reports and outcry from lawmakers.
After speaking with mental health providers and clinicians all over the country — anonymously, as many fear for their jobs — NPR previously reported that many are afraid they will be unable to provide therapy in private spaces after a mandatory return-to-work order that requires them to report to a VA facility. Many are currently providing telehealth to veterans from home.
The return-to-office order comes after much consternation over an announcement from VA officials and VA Secretary Doug Collins that the agency intends to cut 80,000 jobs. Under President Biden, Congress passed the PACT act, which allocated nearly $800 billion to expand VA care and benefits. The current efforts aim to reduce staffing numbers to the levels before this legislation, though it is not clear how VA would do so and still fulfill its legal requirements under the PACT act.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/18/nx-s1-5369446/veterans-mental-health-privacy-telehealth-trump
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