Veterans affairs to launch patient access to EMRs.
Physicians at the Department of Veterans Affairs have been using an electronic medical record for about 20 years, so officials there are getting ready to take the next step--online patient access to their medical records. Next May, the VA plans to provide patients with online access to...

VA moves forward with patient access to EMRs.
Physicians at the Department of Veterans Affairs have been using an electronic medical record for about 20 years, so officials there are getting ready to take the next step--online patient access to their medical records. Next May, the VA plans to provide patients with online access to...

Quality improvement implementation in the nursing home.
BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESES The VA operates a federally financed health care system for eligible veterans. The system comprises more than 150 medical centers, many of which have associated nursing homes. Although part of a larger medical center, VA nursing homes have a separate administrative structure consisting of...

Vets and the VA: another kind of war story.
"Article 99," a 1992 film directed by Howard Deutch, has renewed relevance now. It is a unique, ambitious effort to portray problems in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, problems receiving greater attention recently because of the unanticipated high numbers of wounded combatants returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. This month...

The New Veterans Charter: setting limits for vets.
OVER THE LAST YEAR we have seen the funerals of far too many Canadian soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan. Not surprisingly, over 200 soldiers were wounded in Operation Athena. These newly-disabled soldiers will join the ranks of the over 150,000 serving and former Canadian Forces members...

Veterans Health Administration: Organizational Transformation and GPRA.
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has undergone a major transformation over the past five years to become a quality-focused, primary care oriented, performance-based integrated delivery system. VHA is now a $20 billion health system comprised of 22 networks and over 1100 delivery sites, serving four million veteran enrollees. VHA...

Mission creep: in this era of budget cutting, why is the VA trying to expand its clientele?
In this era of budget cutting, why is the VA trying to expand its clientele? Herbert Slutsky led a contingent of protesters toward the entrance of Chicago's West Side Veterans Affairs Medical Center, tailed by an entourage of cameramen and reporters. A crowd of clergy, local residents, and...

Hooray for VA.
Your article ("The Best Care Anywhere" by Phillip Longman, January/February) should be required reading for a) every member of Congress and the administration who continue to underfund the best health-care system in the country, and b) your colleagues in the print and broadcast media who appear to be interested...

VA Selects Six Sites for End-of-Life Fellowships.
WASHINGTON, July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has selected six health care sites to launch VA's new program focused on changing the way physicians, social workers, nurses and other caregivers approach end-of-life care. The initiative, called "VA Interprofessional Fellowship Program in...

Disarray.
Beleaguered is the polite word now most often used to describe the Bush administration. Yet making sense of the administration's failures requires stronger language. As the events and revelations of the last few weeks remind us, almost nothing this administration does works and almost nothing it says adds up....