E-Mail May 14, 2021 - Two years ago, the Veterans Affairs healthcare system (VA) began rolling out a new benefit, enabling Veterans to receive urgent care from a network of community providers - rather than visiting a VA emergency department or clinic. Progress toward expanding community care services for Veterans is the focus of a special supplement to the May issue of Medical Care. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. The urgent care benefit "provides a new way to deliver unscheduled, low-acuity acute care to Veterans," according to the new research by Anita Vashi, MD, MPH, MHS, of VA Palo Alto Health Care System and colleagues. The study is one of 12 research papers and commentaries on "Innovations in Community Care Programs, Policies, and Research" - focusing on Veterans' use of healthcare services in the community, and how VA centers interact with community care providers.