Veterans Affairs report shows VA hospitals making strides in quality
About 71 percent of its total facilities have shown improvement, according to the internal report, with several no longer considered high-risk.
Using a web-based report scorecard that measures, evaluates and benchmarks quality and efficiency at its medical centers, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently released data that seemed to indicate significant quality improvements at the majority of its healthcare facilities.
Compared with data from the same period a year ago, the July 2018 release of VA's Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning report showed 103 VA Medical Centers have improved in overall quality. That translates to about 71 percent of its total facilities.
The report didn't specify exactly what issues were occurring or steps that were taken to rectify them. But the VA has been moving lately to be more accomodating, finalizing its federal rule this year to allow providers to deliver patient care across state lines and outside of a VA facility using telemedicine.
The final rule "clarifies that VA healthcare providers may exercise their authority to provide healthcare through the use of telehealth, notwithstanding any State laws, rules, licensure, registration or certification requirements to the contrary," according to the notice.
Of the 15 medical centers placed under the Strategic Action for Transformation program, or StAT, an initiative that monitors high-risk medical centers and mobilizes resources to assist the facilities, five are no longer considered high-risk and 11 show meaningful improvements since being placed under StAT in January 2018.
The quarterly SAIL report, which has been released publicly since 2015, assesses 25 quality metrics and two efficiency and productivity metrics in areas such as death rate, complications and patient satisfaction, as well as overall efficiency and physician capacity at 146 VAMCs.
Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com
