Virginia State Veterans Homes: Who Qualifies, Cost, How to Apply

If your dad or husband is a Virginia veteran rated 70% or more who now needs nursing care around the clock, Virginia's state veterans homes may cost your family nothing for that nursing home care. Under the federal State home rule, 38 CFR 51.41, VA's payment to a State home with a State home care agreement for the nursing home care of a veteran rated 70% or more is payment in full, and the home may not bill anyone else for that care.1 Virginia's state veterans homes are the veterans care centers the Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS) lists in Richmond, Roanoke, Virginia Beach and Fauquier County, providing long-term skilled nursing, dementia and memory care, and short-term rehabilitation for Virginia's veterans.2

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What a Virginia State Veterans Home Is
• The Four Virginia State Veterans Homes
• Who Qualifies for a Virginia Veterans Care Center?
• What a Virginia Veterans Care Center Costs
• When a VA Rating Covers Care at a Virginia Veterans Care Center
• Medicaid and VA Pension in a Virginia Veterans Care Center
• How to Apply, Step by Step
• If a Veterans Care Center Isn't the Right Fit
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

What a Virginia State Veterans Home Is

"State veterans home" is the federal name; in Virginia the sign out front says "veterans care center." A State Veterans Home is owned, operated and managed by a state government, not by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA formally recognizes and certifies each home, surveys it every year to make sure it still meets VA standards, and may pay the state toward the cost of an eligible veteran's care. Each state sets its own eligibility and admission rules.3

In Virginia, the operator is the Virginia Department of Veterans Services. DVS describes its veterans care centers as providing affordable, long-term skilled nursing care, dementia and memory care, and short-term rehabilitative care for Virginia's veterans.2

So a Virginia veterans care center isn't a VA hospital or a VA nursing home. If you want to see how the program works in every state, start with our national guide to State Veterans Homes.

The Four Virginia State Veterans Homes

Virginia's four veterans care centers sit in Richmond, Roanoke, Virginia Beach and Warrenton in Fauquier County, so start with the one nearest the relative who will visit most often. The person who visits every week is usually the one who notices a change in care first. Here is what DVS publishes about each Virginia center.2

A word on Puller, because it's the newest. DVS's Puller page describes a center that "delivers top-quality care to Virginia veterans," but the same page speaks of PVCC moving "closer to opening," and the DVS overview still captions Puller "(under construction)." DVS's own pages don't settle whether Puller is admitting residents yet, so call Puller at (540) 680-5200 before you plan around it.2

Who Qualifies for a Virginia Veterans Care Center?

Each center's admissions list reads a little differently, but all four open with the same three requirements:2

• Discharge: an honorable discharge from the U.S. Armed Forces.
• Residency: Virginia residency at the time of admission, or entry into active duty from Virginia. A veteran who enlisted from Virginia and retired elsewhere can still meet this.
• Medical need: meeting the medical requirements for nursing home care. Davis & McDaniel and Jones & Cabacoy add that the need must be within the scope of care the center can provide.

Davis & McDaniel in Roanoke lists a fourth item: a payor source, which DVS says is typically the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Medicaid, private pay or insurance, or Medicare.2 That payor-source item isn't a wealth test. It means the Roanoke center wants to know, before admission, who will pay.

What the 24-month rule on the DVS pages means

This is the line that worries families most, so read it carefully. The Sitter & Barfoot and Puller pages print extra bullets under "Admissions Criteria," and Jones & Cabacoy prints them under "Additional Guidance." One DVS bullet, which describes eligibility for VA health care, says that a veteran who enlisted after September 7, 1980, or entered active duty after October 16, 1981, must have served 24 continuous months or the full period he was called to active duty. Another DVS bullet covers Reserve and National Guard service.2

By their own wording, the 24-month-service bullets on the DVS Sitter & Barfoot, Puller and Jones & Cabacoy pages describe eligibility for VA health care rather than a requirement for admission to a Virginia veterans care center, and each of those DVS pages closes the section by sending readers to VA's health care eligibility page. No DVS page we cite says a veteran who misses the 24-month test can't be admitted to a Virginia veterans care center, and Davis & McDaniel's list doesn't mention length of service at all. The National Association of State Veterans Homes lists Virginia's admission requirements as discharge, residency and nursing home need, with no length-of-service test.2 If your parent's service was short, don't rule the center out. Ask the admissions office directly.

Can a spouse be admitted?

VA says some State Veterans Homes may admit non-veteran spouses and Gold Star parents, while others admit only veterans.3 The Virginia admissions criteria we cite are written around the veteran's discharge and residency, so if you're hoping to place a spouse, ask the center before you apply.2

What a Virginia Veterans Care Center Costs

Most families ask this first, and it's the hardest question to answer from the DVS pages. On paying for care at Sitter & Barfoot, DVS says: "SBVCC accepts payment from private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid. Most veterans also qualify for the VA per diem facility credit."2 None of the DVS pages we cite publishes a daily or monthly rate, so we don't print one here. Ask the admissions office at the Virginia center you're considering what a day of care costs today, and get that figure on paper.

The "VA per diem facility credit" is VA's per diem. Under federal rules, VA pays the state for each eligible veteran in a State home at the lesser of one-half of the daily cost of his care or the basic per diem rate VA sets each fiscal year, and by statute those payments can never exceed half the cost of the veteran's care.1 VA doesn't pay for care for non-veterans, and the cost to the resident varies by state.3

For a veteran without a qualifying disability rating, then, the per diem lowers the bill without erasing it. The rest comes from the payors Davis & McDaniel names: Medicaid, Medicare, private pay or insurance.2 If savings and income will cover part of it, VA pension may help; our guide to Aid and Attendance for a nursing home in Virginia explains how that monthly payment works.

When a VA Rating Covers Care at a Virginia Veterans Care Center

For some veterans, the answer to "what will this cost us?" can be nothing for the nursing care itself. Under 38 U.S.C. 1745(a) and 38 CFR 51.41, VA enters into a contract or State home care agreement with a State home to pay for nursing home care for:1

• a veteran who needs nursing home care for a VA adjudicated service-connected disability;
• a veteran with a service-connected disability rated at 70% or more who needs nursing home care;1
• a veteran rated for total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU) who needs nursing home care.

Under 38 CFR 51.41, for a veteran who needs nursing home care and is rated 70% or more, is rated TDIU, or needs that care for a service-connected disability, VA's payment to a State home is payment in full for that nursing home care, and under a State home care agreement the home may not charge any individual, insurer or other entity besides VA for the care VA paid for.1 The rule reaches a Virginia veterans care center through that agreement, so ask the center's business office to confirm it has a State home care agreement with VA before you count on payment in full.

If the veteran's disability claim is still pending when he moves into a Virginia veterans care center, a late VA decision can reach back: under 38 CFR 51.41, when a veteran gets a retroactive service-connected rating that brings him within these rules, the State home can request VA payment for nursing home care back to the rating's retroactive effective date or February 2, 2013, whichever is later.1 Ask the center's business office how it handles a pending rating before you sign.

Medicaid and VA Pension in a Virginia Veterans Care Center

If your parent will rely on Virginia Medicaid, there's one federal pension rule worth knowing. When a veteran with no spouse or child is on Medicaid in a nursing facility, federal law generally caps his VA pension at $90 a month. But the statute's definition of "nursing facility" for that cap, 38 U.S.C. 5503(d)(1)(B), excludes a State home for which VA pays per diem for nursing home care. So the $90 cap must not be applied to a Medicaid-covered veteran living in a Virginia veterans care center that receives that per diem.4 Confirm how VA has applied it to your parent's own award.

For how Virginia Medicaid pays for nursing home care generally, see our guide to Virginia Medicaid for nursing home care.

How to Apply, Step by Step

You apply to one Virginia center at a time, through its admissions office. This order saves the most back-and-forth.

Here is who to call at each Virginia center, as DVS lists them:2

For Puller, DVS also takes email at PVCCAdmissions@dvs.virginia.gov and asks families to send the potential resident's name, location, phone and email, plus a secondary contact, to join its waitlist.2 Admissions staff and numbers change, so confirm the contact when you call.2

If a Veterans Care Center Isn't the Right Fit

A Virginia center may be full, too far away, or unable to meet a particular care need. VA has two nursing home programs of its own. A Community Living Center is a VA nursing home, most often for short stays after a hospital discharge, and eligibility turns on clinical need, setting availability, service-connected status, disability level and income.5 A Community Nursing Home is a non-VA nursing home VA contracts with, and VA pays only if the veteran meets its service-connected, disability and income criteria.6 Our guide to VA nursing home care compares them, and VA long-term care copays explains what a veteran may owe.

For the wider picture of VA help in the state, see VA benefits for senior care in Virginia.

Learn More

Find personalized help choosing and applying to a Virginia veterans care center at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.