United States Veterans Health Administration

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This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

[edit intro]

The United States Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the branch of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs that provides health care to honorably discharged veterans of the United States military. The VHA is the largest integrated health care system in the United States.

The health care provided by the VHA compares well[1] or better[2] than health care provided outside of the VHA. Its improvement and re-engineering in the 1990s has been detailed.[3]

## Contents

* 1 Electronic health record
* 2 Privacy
* 3 Quality of health care
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## Electronic health record[edit]

The VA's electronic health record or electronic medical record is call VISTA and CPRS. It is maintained by the VA's Office Of Information & Technology (OI&T).

## Privacy[edit]

The VA complies with privacy policies of the United States:

* The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552
* The Privacy Act (PA), 5 U.S.C. 552a
* The VA Claims Confidentiality Statute, 38 U.S.C. 5701
* Confidentiality of Drug Abuse, Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, Infection With the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and Sickle Cell Anemia Medical Records, 38 U.S.C. 7332
* The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
* Confidentiality of Healthcare Quality Assurance Review Records, 38 U.S.C. 5705

The VA's policy is available online:

* VHA Handbook 1605.1 Privacy and Release of Information
* Notice of Privacy Practices
* VA Directive 6500 (Information Security Program)

## Quality of health care[edit]

"The quality of care in the VA health care system substantially improved after the implementation of a systemwide reengineering and, during the period from 1997 through 2000, was significantly better than that in the Medicare fee-for-service program". [4]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Oliver A (2008). "Public-sector health-care reforms that work? A case study of the US Veterans Health Administration". Lancet 371 (9619): 1211-3. DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60528-0. PMID 18395583. Research Blogging.
2. ↑ Kerr EA, Gerzoff RB, Krein SL, et al (August 2004). "Diabetes care quality in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System and commercial managed care: the TRIAD study". Annals of internal medicine 141 (4): 272–81. PMID 15313743. [e]
3. ↑ Kizer KW, Dudley RA (2009). "Extreme makeover: transformation of the veterans health care system". Annu Rev Public Health 30: 313–39. DOI:10.1146/annurev.publhealth.29.020907.090940. PMID 19296778. Research Blogging.
4. ↑ Jha AK, Perlin JB, Kizer KW, Dudley RA (2003). "Effect of the transformation of the Veterans Affairs Health Care System on the quality of care.". N Engl J Med 348 (22): 2218-27. DOI:10.1056/NEJMsa021899. PMID 12773650. Research Blogging.

## External links[edit]

* Veterans Health Administration website