VA organizes into five regions

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said it has begun a realignment of its current organizational maps into one map with five regions to better serve veterans.

The department said the new regional realignment, announced Jan. 26, will give VA the ability to begin integrating various organizational boundaries into a single regional framework to aid internal coordination.

“We want every veteran to have a seamless, integrated, and responsive VA customer service experience every time," VA Secretary Robert McDonald said in a statement. “Ultimately, this reform will improve the veteran experience by enabling veterans to more easily navigate VA and access their earned care and benefits.”

The realignment splits the country into five regions along state boundaries. VA said each of the department's organizations will begin work to align their structures to conform with the new framework by the end of June.

VA said the new framework is part of its department-wide, veteran-centric MyVA initiative, which incorporates ideas from veterans, employees, members of Congress, veterans service organizations and other stakeholders. For example, since the launch of the initiative last year, the department has used employee suggestions to improve VA call center operations—and eliminate additional steps for veterans—by allowing call center agents to suspend or resume certain benefit payments at the request of a vet.