VA’s New Online Tool Helps Veterans Make Informed Healthcare Decisions

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In this June 21, 2013 file photo, the Veterans Affairs Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
In this June 21, 2013 file photo, the Veterans Affairs Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

For many veterans, deciding when, where and how to receive medical care is often one of the most complex and challenging decisions of the entire health care process. Health care performance, access or quality of care data, is very complicated – leaving many veterans at a loss for the best course of action. To help, VA is launching a new website with an access and quality tool to help veterans make more informed choices.

The new online tool allows veterans, caregivers and the public to access the most transparent and easy-to-understand wait time and quality of care measures across the health care industry. That means veterans can quickly and easily compare access and quality measures from their VA facility to other VA facilities, and make informed choices about where, when and how they receive their health care. Further, veterans at some of VA's largest medical centers will now be able to compare the quality of VA care to local private-sector hospitals with more hospital comparisons being added soon.

This tool is designed with transparency in mind – taking highly complex data and making it easily available to veterans and the public. It's just one way VA is working to restore veterans' trust and confidence.

The online tool provides easy-to-use data related to:

  • How long patients are waiting to be seen in their VA facility
  • How veterans describe their experiences scheduling primary and specialty care
  • Timeliness of appointments for care needed right away
  • Information about the quality of healthcare delivered at every medical center compared to local private sector hospitals

The new access and quality web tool is a work in progress and will continue to evolve as veterans, VA employees, veterans service organizations and others provide feedback to improve its tools and capabilities. VA's goal is to make this tool a veteran-driven, veteran-designed point of access for the services that veterans deserve.

You can see the tool at http://www.accesstocare.va.gov/.

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Veterans Health Care