Affiliate Network Sites
A program of Veterans Discseel Network
A service line for the veterans you already have
Open a procedure to your existing census that you cannot offer today, because there is no authorization pathway behind it. VDN supplies that pathway.
The Veteran Market
A large, defined, underserved population
Veterans carry chronic disc-related back pain at materially higher rates than the general population, and a substantial share of them have access to care outside a VA facility. That intersection is the affiliate site's patient enrollment target — and the site conducts the outreach.
How the market is sized
Two published rates narrow the population to a real target
Every affiliate opportunity is sized for the affiliate's own state and sub-market from published federal and state figures. The method is the same every time, and the sources travel with the numbers.
Start from veterans actively receiving care
Not the total veteran population — the number of unique patients actually treated through VA in a given year. That is the only base that reflects real demand.
Apply the chronic low back pain rate
Chronic low back pain is reported by roughly 40% of veterans, against about 30% of non-veterans. Service leaves a mark on the spine that the general population does not carry.
Apply the community care referral rate
More than 31% of VA enrollees nationally have received a referral for care from a community provider. That referral is the pathway VDN operates within.
The calculation
Addressable = (veterans actively receiving VA care) × 0.40 × 0.31
Estimates are derived by applying published prevalence and referral rates to veterans actively receiving VA care, and are rounded. Illustrative, not a forecast.
Your market, sized
Sizing is prepared per opportunity — not published here
Each prospective affiliate receives a Scope of Participation sized for its own home state and, where a second market is granted, that sub-market — with the veteran population, VA enrollment, veterans treated annually, and new enrollment for the most recent reported period, each cited to its source.
The volume commitment is then expressed as a percentage of that addressable population, so the commitment can be judged against the market rather than taken on faith. In every market sized to date, the commitment has represented a low single-digit share or less.
Sources are drawn from state department of veterans’ affairs profiles and VA environmental scans, VA enrollment releases, and county-level state or American Community Survey tables. Figures are never estimated to complete a table.
Who qualifies
What counts as a qualified lead
Patient outreach against a defined candidate profile is what separates a productive affiliate site from an expensive one.
A qualified lead
- • Enrolled in or eligible for VA health care
- • Chronic disc-related back or neck pain
- • Has completed or failed conservative management
- • Consents to transfer into VDN intake for evaluation
Leads that do not meet this definition do not advance and do not count toward the volume commitment.
A strong clinical candidate
- • Chronic low back or neck pain outlasting conservative care
- • Degenerative disc disease, bulging or herniated discs, annular tears
- • Sciatica or radiculopathy driven by disc pathology
- • Post-fusion, post-laminectomy, failed back surgery presentations
- • Service-related spine injury, including cumulative injury
Plan outreach spend accordingly
Pain originating in a joint rather than a disc, nerve entrapment outside the disc, and structural instability requiring stabilization are not candidates. Candidacy is determined by the treating physician at evaluation. Affiliates should expect that a meaningful share of enrolled patients will not proceed to treatment.
Reach
Patient outreach is not capped by local facility boundaries
The affiliate site conducts patient outreach in its own market. VDN routes and authorizes the patient through its own pathway, which is not limited to the affiliate's state. A veteran may elect to receive care at the VDN network site of his or her choosing — which means patient outreach may extend across the site's broader regional market.