The Health Care System for Veterans:
An Interim ReportDecember 2007
The photograph on the front cover was provided courtesy of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
With the return of veterans having served in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and with a much larger number of veterans from earlier eras turning to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for at least a portion of their health care, the department is now treating over 5 million veterans each year. Many observers have suggested that the quality of that care has been bolstered by advances in health information technology as well as in other areas such as the coordination of care and the management of chronic diseases, which may have implications for other components of the nation’s health care system.
In response to requests from the Chairmen of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies of the House Committee on Appropriations, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has prepared this interim paper that describes the incentives for quality that VA has included in its management system and its uses of health information technology. A final paper, anticipated next year, will consider whether other government or private-sector health systems would benefit from adopting those and other practices by VA. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide impartial analysis, this paper makes no recommendations.
Allison Percy of CBO’s National Security Division wrote the paper under the supervision of J. Michael Gilmore and Matthew S. Goldberg. Lyle Nelson served as the internal reviewer. David Auerbach, Tom Bradley, Keith Fontenot, Stuart Hagen, Arlene Holen, Sarah Jennings, Sam Papenfuss, and Michelle Patterson provided helpful comments on a draft of the analysis. Michael McLendon of the consulting firm McLendon & Associates reviewed the paper. (The assistance of an external reviewer implies no responsibility for the final product, which rests solely with CBO.)
John Skeen edited the paper, Loretta Lettner proofread it, and Victoria Liu checked it for accuracy. Cindy Cleveland produced drafts of the manuscript. Maureen Costantino prepared the report for publication and designed the cover. Lenny Skutnik produced the printed copies, Linda Schimmel handled the distribution, and Simone Thomas prepared the electronic version for CBO’s Web site.