Comparing VA and Non-VA Medical Centers: Informing Veteran Health Care Choice at the MISSION Act Watershed

Jill M. Inderstrodt; Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth; Kayla Williams

doi:10.21061/jvs.v8i3.343

Comparing VA and Non-VA Medical Centers: Informing Veteran Health Care Choice at the MISSION Act Watershed

Journal of Veterans Studies

Volume 8 (2022): Issue 3

By: Jill M. Inderstrodt , Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth and Kayla Williams

Open Access

|Sep 2022

Abstract

This study compared clinical quality and patient experience in US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and non-VA hospitals. One hospital was identified for each full-service VA hospital (n = 125 pairs). Hospitals were compared on four Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) clinical indicators: Influenza immunization (IMM-2), Patient Safety Indicator 04 (PSI 04), Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI), Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection (MRSA); and three patient experience indicators: the three-item care transition measure (CTM-3) and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) #18 and #19. In aggregate, VA hospitals fared significantly better than non-VA hospitals for PSI 04 and CTM-3. Non-VA hospitals fared significantly better for IMM-2 and HCAHPS #18. No differences were found for CAUTI, MRSA, and HCAHPS #19. At the pairwise level, VA hospitals performed the same as or better than the grand mean for each measure except for IMM-2. This study reinforces previous findings in that the data do not mirror public perception of a universally troubled VA system. This study will be helpful as it is one of the last studies published with the latest pre-MISSION Act data.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v8i3.343 | Journal eISSN: 2470-4768

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Language: English

Page range: 93 - 101

Submitted on: Mar 14, 2022

Accepted on: May 26, 2022

Published on: Sep 16, 2022

Published by: Virginia Tech Publishing

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

© 2022 Jill M. Inderstrodt, Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, Kayla Williams, published by Virginia Tech Publishing
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 8 (2022): Issue 3