Department of Veterans Affairs
VA Handbook 7610 (262)
Washington, DC 20420
June 2006
The Ambulatory Psychiatric Division of two-division VA Medical Centers will be classified
as ACAP Level S regardless of VAMC Complexity Level.
B. Ambulatory Care Clinic: A medical service that provides healthcare to scheduled and
unscheduled outpatients in a hospital setting; emergency treatment walk-in evaluation;
scheduled compensation and pension examinations; some specialty and sub-specialty
services to hospitalized, nursing home and domiciliary patients; and, employee health
services.
C. Ambulatory Care Clinic Module: A group of no less than 10 and no more than 20 Exam
Rooms within the Ambulatory Care Clinic with associated support and staff spaces.
D. C&P: A type of clinic stop for the purpose of documenting Compensation and Pension
Benefits.
E. Clinic Stop: A clinic stop is one encounter of a patient with a healthcare provider. Per
these criteria, the clinic stop is the workload unit of measure for space planning. One
individual patient can have multiple procedure / suite stops in a single visit or in one day.
F. Clinic Visit: Patient arrival (stop) at the main reception desk. Patients may have multiple
Clinic Stops during one Clinic Visit.
G. Concept of Operations: A user-developed guide to the functional operation of the VA
healthcare facility. It defines the function of the facility and the scope of medical services
to be provided in the new or remodeled space.
H. Disposition Area: The disposition area accommodates those activities (travel pay,
pharmacy etc.) scheduled and unscheduled outpatients usually visit last before leaving
ambulatory care.
I.
Emergency (Urgent) Care (ER): The urgent care area accommodates the examination
and treatment of all outpatients determined to be in need of immediate medical care.
J. Employee Health: The employee health area accommodates any examination, testing
or treatment required by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (medical center,
regional office etc.) employees.
K. Exam Treatment Module: Grouping of clinical, support and office related spaces that
form an outpatient treatment unit.
L. Functional Area: The grouping of rooms and spaces based on their function within a
clinical service. Major Functional Areas include the following:
1. Reception Areas: Accommodates the initial processing (eligibility, admissions, etc.)
of all unscheduled outpatients. It is composed of all activities necessary to
accomplish the tasks associated with medical evaluation and treatment.
2. Emergency Care: Accommodates the examination and treatment of all outpatients
determined to be in need of immediate medical care.
3. Patient Areas: Accommodates the examination and treatment of all non-emergency
outpatients, scheduled and unscheduled, and inpatients in a variety of
medical/surgical disciplines.
4. Employee Health: Accommodates any examination, testing and treatment of VA
employees.
Ambulatory Care (Hospital Based) (262):-Page 3 of 31
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