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MONDAY, Dec. 10, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospitals outperform non-VHA hospitals for 14 of 15 outcome measures in 121 regions, according to a research letter published online Dec. 11 in the Annals of Internal Medicine<\/i>.<\/p>\n
William B. Weeks, M.D., Ph.D., from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and colleagues examined whether outcomes of VHA and non-VHA care in the same region differ. Fifteen outcome measures (30-day risk-adjusted mortality rates for four common diseases plus 11 additional patient safety indicators) reported by VHA and non-VHA hospitals were identified using data from the Hospital Compare website. The analyses were limited to 121 regions in which at least one VHA and one non-VHA hospital reported at least one measure.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that when all regions were considered together, for 14 of 15 measures, VHA care was significantly better than non-VHA care. A VHA hospital provided the best care in at least 50 percent of the regions for nine measures and above-average care in at least 67 percent of the regions for 14 of the 15 measures. In fewer than 15 percent of the regions, a VHA hospital provided the worst care for 14 measures.<\/p>\n
“This finding may indicate that the VHA generally provides truly excellent care; if so, we believe that efforts to outsource VHA care to non-VHA settings solely for patient convenience should be reconsidered,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
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