VA Healthcare-VISN 4
Trust in VA - VISN 4 Results
Trust in VA Care - VISN 4 Results
Veterans Experience Office
The Veterans Experience (VE) Office was created in response to VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald's top priority for the MyVA transformation: Improving the Veteran Experience. This new, permanent office reports directly to the VA Secretary – it is not aligned within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), or National Cemetery Administration (NCA). They do, however, work closely with all three administrations.
VE teams nationwide, and here in VISN 4, are looking for new, proactive ways to influence change and build stronger, more productive relationships.
We have embedded staff from this new program into our Wilmington and Philadelphia VA medical centers as well as the VISN office. By working closely with this new Office, we hope to improve Veterans' trust in VISN 4 care and also engage and empower our employees. It is only through our employees that we can offer great service to our Veterans.
In VISN 4, Toni Bush Neal, relationship manager for Delaware, Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, works in the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz (Philadelphia), but also oversees the Veterans Experience program across VISN 4. Carlos Robinson is the field consultant for Wilmington, Coatesville, Lebanon, and Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Centers, and southern New Jersey VA Outpatient Clinics. Lamont Taylor is the field consultant for VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and Altoona, Erie, and Butler VA Medical Centers.
You can read more about this program in a recent issue of VISN 4's e-zine, Vision for Excellence.
SAIL
VA developed the Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning (SAIL) Value Model to measure, evaluate and benchmark 27 quality measures in areas such as death rate, complications, and patient satisfaction, as well as overall efficiency at our medical centers across the country. This model highlights successful strategies of VA's top performing facilities in order to promote high quality, safety, and value-based health care. Data is updated quarterly and released publicly online.
SAIL is the most powerful and positive tool we have. The relative star ratings are used by our facilities as tools to improve. It is possible for a hospital to improve and still not climb. Since the ratings are relative, during rating periods organizations will receive ratings, one to five stars, even if every facility improves.
To stay up to date with quarterly releases, visit VA's Quality of Care website.
| Relative Performance Star Rating (1 to 5) | Improvement From Baseline Scores 2015* | |
|---|---|---|
| Altoona | 3 | |
| Butler | 5 | |
| Coatesville | 5 | |
| Erie | 5 | |
| Lebanon | 4 | |
| Philadelphia | 3 | |
| Pittsburgh | 5 | |
| Wilkes-Barre | 3 | |
| Wilmington | 2 |
* Improvement From Baseline:
= Large Improvement
= Small Improvement
= Trivial Change
Hospital Compare
VA hospital performance data can now be found on Hospital Compare to allow comparison of performance between VA and civilian acute care hospitals. The VA tables include data for quarterly timely and effective care measures, VA satisfaction survey results, outcomes measures including mortality and readmission rates for selected conditions, behavioral health measures, and measures of patient safety. You can access all of that information on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Hospital Compare website.
National Studies
Psychiatric Services, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychiatric Association, published a report showing that the quality of mental health care provided by VA is superior to that provided to a comparable population in the private sector. According to the study, "In every case, VA performance was superior to that of the private sector by more than 30%." The study concluded "Findings demonstrate the significant advantages that accrue from an organized, nationwide system of care. The much higher performance of the VA has important clinical and policy implications."
A RAND study in July 2016 showed that VA performed better than the private sector in 96 percent (45 of 47) of outpatient measures, and VA performed the same as the private sector in the other four percent of outpatient measures.
By the Numbers
In the first half of fiscal year 2016, 55% of Veterans who used VA services and responded to the survey nationwide either agreed or strongly agreed that they trusted VA to fulfill our country's commitment to Veterans. By the first quarter of fiscal year 2017, that number had increased to 61%. VA's goal is to reach 90% by the end of fiscal year 2017.
Veterans experience is designed and measured from the Veterans' point of view. The Veterans Experience Office is using three dimensions to measure each Veteran's experience with VA. Together, positive experiences with effectiveness, ease, and emotion will increase trust in VA.
- Trust — "I trust VA to fulfill our country's commitment to Veterans."
- Effective — "I got the service I needed."
- Ease — "It was easy to get what I needed."
- Emotion — "I felt like a valued customer."
Effectiveness and Ease are planned and delivered by well-designed systems. Emotion is delivered by employees' abilities to connect with Veterans through their hearts.
Veterans may have noticed these statements pop up on VA surveys, and employees have noticed benchmarks related to them added to their performance plans.
| Inpatients | Outpatients | Specialty Care Outpatients | |
|---|---|---|---|
| "I got the service I needed" | 88.2 | 86.0 | 84.2 |
| "It was easy to get the service I needed" | 83.4 | 79.1 | 75.8 |
| "I felt like a valued customer" | 84.3 | 80.5 | 79.2 |
| "I trust VA to fulfill our country's commitment to Veterans" | 83.6 | 75.4 | 73.9 |
*Percentage of responding Veterans in VISN 4 who either agreed or strongly agreed that they trust VA to fulfill our country's commitment to Veterans.
