The short answer
When your Community Care authorization ends or treatment is finished, VA closes the episode, the community provider sends records back to VA, and your VA team picks up any follow-up. Ask your VA team to schedule follow-up and take over prescriptions. If you need the same outside care again later, you'll usually need a new referral.
How does care move back to VA?
At the end of an authorized episode of care. 38 CFR 17.4005 defines an episode of care as a course of treatment lasting no more than one calendar year. When it ends, VA's care coordination process has staff confirm you got the care, complete the handoff, and close the consult.
In practice, the handoff has three parts:
- Records. The community provider sends notes, results, and a treatment summary to your VA facility.
- Follow-up. Your VA team schedules any next steps.
- Prescriptions. VA keeps filling routine medications. Your VA provider takes over managing them.
When does Community Care end?
- The authorization runs out and no extension was requested or approved.
- Treatment is finished, like after a surgery and its follow-ups, or a completed course of therapy.
- You choose VA care instead. You can do that any time.
- VA decides you no longer qualify, for example because VA can now meet the access standards for that care.
If VA says you no longer qualify and you disagree, ask for the decision in writing. You can appeal through VA's clinical appeals process. See Appealing a Community Care Denial.
How do I make the handoff smooth?
- Ask the community provider to send a final summary and records to your VA facility. Ask when they sent it.
- Message your VA team that Community Care has ended and ask them to schedule follow-up.
- Review medications with your VA provider, especially anything the community provider started or changed.
- Check your VA record on VA.gov or My HealtheVet to see whether the community records arrived.
- Ask about pending items, like test results or referrals the community provider recommended.
What if I'm in ongoing therapy?
Switching therapists can be hard. If you're still in treatment when the authorization ends, talk with your VA team before it ends. Options include:
- your therapist asking VA for an extension through a Request for Service;
- raising continuity of care as a best medical interest factor; or
- a planned transition to a VA therapist with a warm handoff.
See Keeping Your Current Therapist.
Do I need a new referral to go back to Community Care later?
Usually yes. Once an episode is closed, new outside care for the same or a different problem needs a new eligibility check and authorization. See How to Get a Referral.
Keep your old authorization letter and records. They help show what care you had and when.