VA Hospitals Outperform Others in Same Regions

[longknife]

This should shock a lot of people. Especially after all the continuous bad news about how they care for vets.

Researchers compared performance data at VA hospitals against non-VA facilities in 121 regions. In 14 out of 15 measures, the VA performed "significantly better" than other hospitals, according to results from the study.

"We found a surprisingly high, to me, number of cases where the VA was the best hospital in the region," said Dr. William Weeks, who led the study. "Pretty rarely was it the worst hospital."

Weeks initiated the research after reading multiple studies from recent years that had found VA hospitals performed better than other medical systems. He was skeptical of the research, he said, because it compared data on a national level, not by region.

More @ Dartmouth Study Finds VA Hospitals Outperform Others in Same Regions

 

[Sunni Man]

I've been using the VA for the last 7 years, and have found the staff and medical personal to be very competent, professional, and enthusiastic with the health care they provide. ....

 

[Daryl Hunt]

I find that it all depends on a lot of things.

It all depends on if they are motivated. I was trying to get help for a problem for years. It ended up getting so bad, it could no longer be ignored. I went in and started saying that they were just sending me home to die which was one of the catch phrases in the news at the time. The Ears perked up, I changed from just a nurse to a full MD, got sent to specialtists and we finally got control of the situation. Unfortunately, some permanent damage was done. Part of the blame goes on me not standing my ground and demanding competent service.

There is also a problem of the lack of a certain specialtist on the staff at a given VA. WE all know that a Virus is easy to take care of and it can be taken care of quickly by medication. They kept treating me for Virus. Come to find out, it was Bacteria which has to be treated much differently. A Virus will go away sooner or later once it runs it's course even if not treated. But Bacteria will not. It has to be treated or it just gets worse. I had bacteria in my lungs. They finally got a Lung Specialitist on staff who know this and treated me. Within just a few days, I began seeing improvement. Let's face it, I was dying and anything that didn't kill me was a huge improvement. It cleared up in about 2 weeks and I could finally breath. Before this was found, they went through the "Put Him on Oxygen" routine which didn't really help. In fact, it actually fed the Bacteria. I shut off the use of Oxygen myself because I felt better without it. Most of my own cures were my own cures. The only thing that wasn't was the one prescription that combated the Bacteria itself. I must have been around something in my lifetime where I was subjected to a bacteria environment and didn't know it and it laid dormant for a very long time. And no, it wasn't contageous unless during kissy face, some sick gal stuck her tongue all the way down my lungs (I think I may get sick on that one).

The other would be funding where they just get backlogged.

I think we all have had similar problems with the VA. But most of it can be taken care of and we are NOT dealing with Quacks like we may run across in some of the Civilian Practices who misdiagnose. Not saying all or even some, and it is an isolated incident.

 

[Picaro]

This should shock a lot of people. Especially after all the continuous bad news about how they care for vets.

Researchers compared performance data at VA hospitals against non-VA facilities in 121 regions. In 14 out of 15 measures, the VA performed "significantly better" than other hospitals, according to results from the study.

"We found a surprisingly high, to me, number of cases where the VA was the best hospital in the region," said Dr. William Weeks, who led the study. "Pretty rarely was it the worst hospital."

Weeks initiated the research after reading multiple studies from recent years that had found VA hospitals performed better than other medical systems. He was skeptical of the research, he said, because it compared data on a national level, not by region.

More @ Dartmouth Study Finds VA Hospitals Outperform Others in Same Regions

It seems to be a regional problem, one which should be easily handled by the local Congressmen and Senators; that's what they're elected for, to oversee Federal programs in their districts on behalf of their local people. At least in my district constituency services count for a whole lot more than Party affiliation and noise making rhetoric, and the pols here know it, and will hear a whole lot about it if they ignore that part of their job.The Pacific northwest was one region where the local oversight was nil for many years, when an audit showed that half their patients weren't even legit veterans at one time, for instance. Some facilities look like they didn't grow with the regional population changes in the U.S., as well, a problem that can only by fixed by allowing vets to use local doctors and hmo services.