Changes in characteristics of veterans using the VHA health care system between 1996 and 1999
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Changes in characteristics of veterans using the VHA health care system between 1996 and 1999 Chuan-Fen Liu*1,2, Matthew L Maciejewski1,2 and Anne EB Sales1,2 Address: 1Department of Veterans Affairs, Puget Sound Health Care System, Health Services Research and Development, USA and 2University of Washington, School of Public Health, USA Email: Chuan-Fen Liu* - [email protected]; Matthew L Maciejewski - [email protected]; Anne EB Sales - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 18 April 2005 Health Research Policy and Systems 2005, 3:5
doi:10.1186/1478-4505-3-5
Received: 11 February 2004 Accepted: 18 April 2005
This article is available from: http://www.health-policy-systems.com/content/3/1/5 © 2005 Liu et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract Background: The Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Health Administration (VHA) provides a health care safety net to veterans. This study examined changes in characteristics of veterans using the VHA health care system between 1996 and 1999 when VHA implemented major organizational changes to improve access of ambulatory care and to provide care to more veterans. Methods: The study used two cross-sectional samples of the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS), a national representative survey, in 1996 and 1999. The 1996 MEPS survey included 1,944 veterans and the 1999 MEPS survey included 1,974 veterans. There were 534 veterans and 740 veterans who used VHA services in 1996 and 1999, respectively. Results: The proportion of veterans using the VHA system increased from 12.4% in 1996 to 14.6% in 1999. In both years, veterans were more likely to use VHA care if they were older, male, less educated, uninsured, unemployed, and in fair or poor health status. Only two variables, marital status and income, were different between the two years. Married veterans were more likely to use VHA care in 1999, but not in 1996. Veterans with higher incomes had greater odds of using VHA care in 1996, but there was no significant association between income and VHA use in 1999. Conclusion: Characteristics of VHA users did not fundamentally change despite the reorganization of VHA health care delivery system and changes in eligibility and enrollment policy. The VHA system maintains its safety net mission while attracting more veterans.
Background Veterans have access to a health care system unavailable to most Americans – the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), part of the Department of Veterans Affairs. This large, integrated health care system provided care to about 4.5 million veterans in 2002. In 2001, the total veteran population was estimated at 25.3 million, accounting for about 10% of the U.S. total population [1].
The VHA has implemented significant o
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