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Research Highlights
VA Upstate New York Healthcare System Wins Esteemed Robert W. Carey Quality Award
Taken from the Veterans Health Administration Highlights dated January 18, 2002
The VA Upstate New York VA Healthcare Network (VISN 2) has been selected as the winner of the highly esteemed 2001 Robert W. Carey Quality Award, which recognizes VA organizations that have excelled in quality achievement.
Between 1996 and 2000, the Network, based in Albany, New York, transformed its health delivery system. The number of veterans served increased by 42 percent, while quality and patient satisfaction improved significantly. The Network’s care-line structure achieved a high degree of collaboration and shared accountability. Transformation of the system permitted the emergence of many new leaders whose skills had previously been unrecognized in traditional hierarchies.
The Network has been recognized as a community leader for the care of serious mental illness, spinal cord injury care, prosthetics and rehabilitation, geriatrics and extended care, post traumatic stress disorder care and other initiatives. The Network continues to incorporate technological advances including telemedicine, clinical imaging, universal automation of medical records and Internet-based technologies. It achiev-ed top patient satisfaction scores nationally in access, courtesy and waiting times. The Office of Personnel Management presented the Network with the 2000 Pillar Award for Goal Sharing for achieving universal staff involvement in goal formulation and organizational successes.
Other outstanding Network accomplishments include:
Performing at the 90-percentile level for influenza immunizations, beta-blocker administration, breast and cervical cancer screening, diabetes management, tobacco and major depression screening.
Treating the VA’s highest proportion of the geriatrics population.
Completing the integration of its data base, the first VA network to achieve this goal.
Achieving the VA’s highest overall rating of care, which compares favorably to the highest-rated HMO in New York State.
The Network provides health care to more than 116,000 veterans annually at 5 medical centers, 29 community-based outpatient clinics and 6 nursing home facilities that are located in 47 counties in upstate New York and 2 counties in northern Pennsylvania.
The Network was awarded the Carey Trophy, the highest level of the annual Carey Awards that are dedicated to the memory of Robert W. Carey. As Director of the VA Regional Office and Insurance Center in Philadelphia, he was recognized as a "Quality Leader" and champion for excellence in the Federal Government.
The Research and Development/Cooperative Studies Program Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center in Albuquerque, and the Veterans Benefits Administration Insurance Service in Philadelphia won Carey Category Awards. The Fort Custer National Cemetery in Augusta, Michigan, was named as winner of the Carey Achievement Award.
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