The Veterans Health Administration: quality, value, accountability, and information as transforming strategies for patient-centered care.
The Veterans Health Administration is the United States' largest integrated health system. Once disparaged as a bureaucracy providing mediocre care, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reinvented itself during the past decade through a policy shift mandating structural and organizational change, rationalization of resource allocation, explicit measurement and accountability for quality and value, and development of an information infrastructure supporting the needs of patients, clinicians, and administrators. Today, the VA is recognized for leadership in clinical informatics and performance improvement, cares for more patients with proportionally fewer resources, and sets national benchmarks in patient satisfaction and for 18 indicators of quality in disease prevention and treatment.
Perlin
Jonathan B
JB
Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC 20420, USA. jonathan.perlin@hq.med.va.gov
Kolodner
Robert M
RM
Roswell
Robert H
RH
D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008485:Medical Audit; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D012941:Social Responsibility; D012945:Social Values; D017749:Total Quality Management; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs / Q000458:organization & administration*