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    PA Governor’s Challenge Team’s ‘Ask the Question’ Initiative Underway

    Beginning January 2026, the Governor’s Challenge began work with the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA)’s Policy, Planning and Legislation (PPL) Team and the GAC-VS on the ‘Ask the Question’ initiative. This initiative focuses on formalizing veteran status as a standard demographic variable for data collection across the commonwealth, particularly within medical and mental healthcare settings, by standardizing the best practice of asking one simple question at every intake or initial interview: Have you or a loved one ever served in the military?

    Asking patients about their military service is a critical first step for community healthcare and mental health providers to deliver safe, effective and culturally competent care. Approximately 66% of all U.S. veterans, representing roughly 12 million individuals, are not enrolled in the VA health system. As of late 2025, approximately 40% of all medical care coordinated by the VA is now provided through the Community Care Network (CCN) of community providers. Since veterans are widely distributed across the civilian healthcare system, community providers are often the first or only point of contact for service-related issues.

    Although nearly 75% of community providers believe knowing a patient's veteran status is important, only about 19% regularly ask this question during intake. Failing to identify a patient’s military history can lead to significant clinical errors, missed diagnostic opportunities and life-threatening outcomes. Because veteran-specific conditions often mirror common civilian ailments, a lack of awareness can compromise the entire trajectory of care.

    • Clinical Importance: Identifying a patient’s veteran status is clinically important because it enables the use of targeted screening for mental and physical health risks. Without knowing this history, a provider may dismiss early symptoms of a traumatic brain injury (TBI), rare cancers or respiratory diseases as common viral or environmental issues.

    • Cultural Competence: Identifying a patient’s veteran status also enables community providers to build cultural competence and rapport with their veteran patients. Asking about service affirms their value, reduces feelings of intimidation and builds the trust necessary to encourage help-seeking and continuation of care.

    • Identification of Risk: Community care providers are an essential partner in identifying veterans at risk of suicide or severe mental health crisis.

    • Cost-Effective Practice: Asking patients about their military history is a cost-effective practice that reduces overall system expenditures by improving diagnostic accuracy, shifting financial responsibility to federal programs and the collection of critical public health data