System overhaul results in improved care for veterans - Brief Article

AORN Journal,  August, 2003  

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The quality of care available to veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has improved significantly since a major overhaul of the health care system was undertaken in 1995, according to a June 3, 2003, news release from the VA. Researchers from the VA; Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston; The National Quality Forum; and the University of California used data from the VA's external peer review program to compare quality indicators of preventive, acute, and chronic care with similar data from the Medicare fee-for-service program. The study represented all VA locations nationwide and included between 50,000 and 90,000 individual medical records each year since 1995.

Researchers gathered data on standard quality of care indicators, including those for preventive care, such as the frequency of mammography, vaccination, and colorectal cancer screening. Markers for quality outpatient care included reaching target blood pressure readings for patients with hypertension, prescription of aspirin within 24 hours of a myocardial infarction, and cholesterol screening and control for patients with diabetes or heart disease. Significant improvement was found for all quality-of-care indicators measured between 1994 and 2000. The VA also outperformed the Medicare fee-for-service program on all 11 common markers measured for the two systems between 1997 and 1999 and on 12 of 13 indicators measured between 2000 and 2001, according to the release.

VA Study Shows Health Care Improvements (news release, Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, June 3, 2003).

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