The Veterans Health Administration: an American success story?
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) provides health care for U.S. military veterans. By the early 1990s, the VHA had a reputation for delivering limited, poor-quality care, which led to health care reforms. By 2000, the VHA had substantially improved in terms of numerous indicators of process quality, and some evidence shows that its overall performance now exceeds that of the rest of U.S. health care. Recently, however, the VHA has started to become a victim of its own success, with increased demands on the system raising concerns from some that access is becoming overly restricted and from others that its annual budget appropriations are becoming excessive. Nonetheless, the apparent turnaround in the VHA's performance offers encouragement that health care that is both financed and provided by the public sector can be an effective organizational form.
Oliver
Adam
A
London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom. a.j.oliver@lse.ac.uk
D002017:Budgets; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D005380:Financing, Government; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D007857:Leadership; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D011057:Politics; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends