About Us

Description of VISN 8

VISN 8 offers a full spectrum of medical, surgical, and mental health services in an inpatient, outpatient, nursing home, and home care setting. The continuum ranges from primary care, or the point at which the patient first seeks access to the healthcare system, to highly specialized care.  The VISN office is located at the Bay Pines VAMC in St. Petersburg, Florida. Health care is delivered through an integrated system of eight VAMCs, 10 multispecialty outpatient clinics, and 34 primary care community-based outpatient clinics. The service area includes 60 of 67 Florida counties, 19 rural counties of south Georgia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Currently, 1.8 million veterans reside in the VISN 8 service area.

Mission

• Honor America's veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being.

Vision

• To be a patient centered integrated health care organization for veterans providing excellence in health care, research, and education; an organization where people choose to work; an active community partner and a back-up for National emergencies.

Core Values

1. Trust.   Trust means having a high degree of confidence int he honesty, integrity, reliability and sincere good intent of those with whom we work, of those whom we serve, and the system of which we are a part.  Trust is the basis for the caregiver-patient relationship and is fundamental to all that we do in health care.
2. Respect.   Respect means honoring and holding in high regard the dignity and worth of our patients and their families, our co-workers, and the system of which we are a part.  It means relating to each other and providing services in a manner that demonstrates an understanding of, sensitivity to and concern for each person's individuality and importance.
3. Excellence.   Excellence means being exceptionally good and of the highest quality.  It means being the most competent and the finest in everything we do.  It also means continually improving what we do.
4. Compassion.   Compassion means demonstrating empathy and caring in all that we say and do in responding to our co-workers, our patients and their families, and all others with whom we interact.
5. Commitment.   Commitment means meaningful engagement with co-workers, veterans, and families.  It includes a promise to work hard to do all that we can in accordance with the highest principles and ethics governing the conduct of the health care professions and public service.  It is a pledge to assume personal responsibility for our individual and collective actions.

Domains of Quality

1. Quality.   To put quality first.
2. Access.   To provide easy access to care, expertise and knowledge.
3. Function.   To restore, preserve, and improve veterans' function.
4. Satisfaction.   To exceed veteran, family, and employee expectations.
5. Cost-effectiveness.   To optimize resource use to benefit veterans.
6. Healthy Communities.   To optimize the health of the veteran and the VA community and to contribute to the health of the Nation.