Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WASHINGTON, Dec 20, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Patients enrolled in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health system are significantly more likely to receive preventive care.
VA researchers, the RAND Corp., the University of California at Los Angeles, and the University of Michigan compared the medical records of VA patients with non-VA patients and evaluated acute, chronic and preventive care for 26 medical conditions.
The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found VA patients received 67 percent of recommended care as compared with 51 percent in the national sample of the general population.
The researchers also found the VA health system outpaced the national sample for chronic care; 72 percent of indicated chronic care was delivered to VA patients, compared with 59 percent in the national sample.
For preventive care, such as pneumococcal vaccination and screening for colorectal cancer, 64 percent of the indicated preventive care was delivered to VA patients compared with 44 percent in the national sample.
Copyright 2004 by United Press International.
