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Research Highlights
Time Magazine: VA Provides the Best Healthcare
August 29, 2006
In a recent article titled "How VA Became the Best," Time Magazine proclaims VA an "industry leader" that is "acing competitors."
VA health care was not always synonymous with high quality care but in the early 1990s VA undertook a dynamic organizational transformation aimed at renewing its goal to provide the highest quality health care to veterans. This has resulted in VA outscoring the private sector in patient surveys of quality of care for six years running. The article also notes results of a new study that shows male veterans aged 65 and older receiving VA care had about a 40% lower risk of death than those enrolled in 'Medicare Advantage,' whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs. Part of the reason for the higher patient satisfaction and better outcomes is VA's commitment to incorporating cutting-edge technology, such as electronic medical records and bar-code scanners that can reduce patient medication errors. Bar-code technology has been installed in VA hospitals system-wide but is currently in fewer than 5% of private hospitals. VA also is dedicated to providing the best care for our new generation of veterans and has set up polytrauma centers that are treating the men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with complex, polytraumatic injuries.
The Time article notes that as VA worked to improve quality of care, it also worked to keep it cost-effective. VA care is not only better; it's cheaper. Medicare pays more than $6,500 per patient annually for private doctors, while VA costs about $5,000 per patient.
Waller D. How VA Hospitals Became the Best. Time Magazine August, 2006.
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