VA Health Care Center Ratings Released

A study on VA health care conducted by the RAND Corporation and published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine in 2016 found that while “The Veterans Affairs health care system generally performs better than or similar to other health care systems on providing safe and effective care to patients, … there were areas where the quality of VA care fell short” (Dr. Courtney Gidengil, co-author of the study and a physician scientist at RAND).

The study was completed by analyzing a decade of research on a range of VA health care quality outcomes between 2005 and 2015. The researchers were unable to make an assessment on timeliness, equity, efficiency and patient-centeredness due to a lack of data available on these issues. The Rand Corporation is the nation’s largest independent and nonprofit health policy research program.

VA health care outcomes show mixed results

While surgical patients in the VA system and VA nursing homes patients had death rates similar to patients in other health systems, rates of surgical complications and the availability of services were inconsistent.

VA facilities were found to offer similar or superior quality preventive care, end-of-life care and medication management when compared to non-VA facilities. Studies on the availability of services had mixed results, however.

VA releases health care center ratings

In December, 2016, The Department of Veterans Affairs released quality-of-care star ratings for its medical centers across the country after years of refusing to share them over concerns that a low rating might stop a veteran from seeking care at their local VA health center. See how your local VA care stacks up against other locations.

The information released also included data on which health centers have shown improvement and which have declined in performance from the prior year (June 30, 2015 verses June 30, 2016). According to the VA, 120 of the 146 health centers across the country have shown improvement year over year with a large decline in care assigned to facilities in El Paso and Hot Springs, Texas; Fargo, North Dakota; San Diego, California; and Tomah, Wisconsin.

Areas of improvement include dramatically decreased death and infection rates; decreased readmission and hospital admission rates due to improved primary care.

Areas of decline include increased turnover rate among registered nurses, higher rate of in-hospital complications and a slight decrease in the percentage of mental health appointments for new patients scheduled within 30 days.

How has government responded to criticism of VA health care?

VA health care has the tendency to become a political football with both parties wanting to look like they are better at protecting veterans. In light of the controversies over VA health care wait times and care certain actions were taken including:

• Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, began investigating the VA after it was concluded in January, 2015 that a veteran had died after doctors at the Tomah, Virginia center prescribed him a fatal cocktail of narcotics.
• President Obama appointed former Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald to take over as Veterans Affairs secretary and overhaul the agency in 2014. According to internal VA documents obtained by USA TODAY, the results have been mixed.

If you or a loved one suffered an injury due to poor VA health care or lack of access to timely care, contact a medical malpractice lawyer today.

The Seattle personal injury attorneys at Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC have years of experience representing families harmed by medical malpractice. We seek justice for patients who have been harmed by preventable medical errors including birth injuries, hospital-acquired infections and wrongful death in Seattle and across Washington State. There are no fees or expenses to file a personal injury case as we only receive payment if we recover damages on your behalf. Do not delay; personal injury claims come with a Statute of Limitations, which means they must be filed within a certain time frame of the injury.

Call us now at (206) 752-4366 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with one of our compassionate, experienced attorneys.