|
Created by Diane C. Cowper, MA -
Principal Investigator
Assistant Director of the Rehabilitation Outcomes Research Center, Malcom Randall
VAMC
Gainesville, FL
|
Wei Yu, PhD -
Co-Investigator
VA Palo Alto Healthcare
System,
Palo Alto, CA |
Joseph
D. Kubal, MA - Co-Investigator
Edward Hines Jr. VAMC, Hines, IL |
Mark K. Kuebeler, MS -
Co-Investigator
VA HSR&D Center of Excellence, Houston, TX |
Larry M.
Manheim, PhD - Co-Investigator
Edward Hines Jr. VAMC, Hines, IL |
Bruce
A. Ripley, BA - Consultant
Malcom Randall VAMC, Gainesville, FL |
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) maintains the largest health care
system in the United States. In FY-2000, the VA oversaw the operation of
163 hospitals, over 500 Community Based Outpatient clinics (CBOCs), 163
hospital-based outpatient clinics and 4 independent outpatient clinics,
134 nursing homes, 40 domiciliaries, and 4 mobile clinics. VA has electronically
captured data on the VA patient population for decades and its patient
data systems are second to none. The massive amount of data available for
analysis, however, can be overwhelming to the researcher, planner or decision
maker who needs to translate these data into usable information. The VA
Health Care Atlas team created the VA Health Care Atlas, FY-2000 to synthesize
information frequently requested by field researchers, managers, and planners
and to highlight the Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) program.
Objectives
The goal of this Service Directed
Research project was to create a product that would enhance knowledge
of VA’s enrolled patient population and their health care utilization and, ultimately, to provide background information that will improve the formulation of specific research questions to address those needs. The VA Health Care Atlas, FY-2000 includes:
- A profile of the veteran population from the Census 2000 decennial survey
- An overview and the location of medical facilities in the VA health care system in FY-2000
- A summary VA’s enrollee population in FY-2000
- An examination of overall VA utilization in FY-2000
- Patterns of health care use and costs in FY-2000 by specific patient disease categories:
| - HIV/AIDS |
- Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) |
- Colorectal Cancer |
| - Diabetes |
- Ischemic Heart Disease |
- Psychiatric Disorders |
| - Substance Abuse |
- Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) |
- Stroke |
This project was funded as a Service Directed Research Project by Health Services Research & Development Service (SDR 01-175).
The VA Health Care team would like to acknowledge the many individuals and Offices within VA and VHA who contributed to this volume. In particular, we thank our Steering Committee who provided guidance and suggestions throughout the process of generating this Atlas. The Steering Committee members, who we cannot thank enough for their input, advice, and suggestions are as follows:
| Steering
Committee |
Carol Ashton,
MD, MPH
Director, HSR&D Center of Excellence
Houston,
Texas |
Lynn McQueen, DrPH,
RN
VHA Office of Quality and Performance
|
Thomas Craig, MD
VHA Office of Quality and Performance |
Stephen Wright, PhD
VHA Office of Quality and Performance
|
Elliott Fisher, MD
Dartmouth University |
Sarah Krein, PhD
QUERI-DM, Ann Arbor, Michigan
|
Project Officers
Jay Freedman, PhD, VA HSR&D
Susan Schiffner, PhD, VA HSR&D |
We gratefully acknowledge
the assistance of Magda Berger, VA Palo Alto, CA, for calculating
the costs and creating the cost tables for the Atlas. Additionally,
we
are grateful to Scott Miskevics, Hines VHA, for the compilation of
the diagnosis code descriptions used to define our patient cohorts.
|
The
VA Health Care Atlas, FY-2000 is dedicated to:
John G. Demakis,
MD
Director, VA HSR&D Service
without whose support
the project would not have been possible. We thank Dr. Demakis
for
supporting the depth and breadth of tools that convey his message
of making a difference to our veterans. |
|
