Last week, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a meticulous study that showed veterans have a higher likelihood of dying if they choose care in the community rather than Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals. As time slips by, the refusal of Congress and the VA to impose quality standards for contracted providers continues to contribute to needless veteran deaths.
Specifically, VA-enrolled older veterans’ 30-day mortality from stroke or heart failure was higher when hospitalized in non-VA compared to VA facilities. These results add to a growing body of similar findings. Veterans electing coronary procedures in Veterans Community Care Program (VCCP) hospitals have equivalent or higher 30-day mortality than in the VA. Two-year mortality for veterans receiving VA-paidchronic dialysis in the community is higher than in the VA. Dually enrolled veterans over 65 with COVID-19 who were admitted to community hospitals had substantially higher 30-day mortality than those treated in VA medical centers. Suicide rates are greater among veterans who receive care exclusively in the VCCP than among those who solely seek care from the VA.
Most dramatically, veterans who had an ambulance transport them to a non-VA emergency department were 46 percent more likely to die in the following month than if they were taken to a VA hospital. The greater mortality in non-VA hospitals was evident for every one of the 140 communities studied.
However, the point here isn’t to question whether veterans should have the option to obtain private sector care when authorized, though they might have second thoughts if they were better informed. What’s deeply concerning — and unsupportable — is that both Congress and the VA refuse to stipulate that contract providers abide by the lifesaving quality standards that are enforced across VA services.
To read the full analysis of these oversight failures, click here.
