Veterans May Be Seeing Lower-Quality Clinicians In The VHA Community Care Network

Health Affairs January 1, 2025
Yanlei Ma, Jessica Phelan, E. John Orav, Austin B. Frakt, Steven D. Pizer, Melissa M. Garrido, José F. Figueroa, Thomas C. Tsai

Abstract

With the rapid expansion of veterans’ access to community care under the Veterans Affairs Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks (VA MISSION) Act of 2018, ensuring that veterans receive high-quality community care has become a national priority. Using Veterans Health Administration (VHA) data and Medicare performance scores, we assessed how clinicians’ performance on quality measures differed between those who treated veterans within the VHA Community Care Network and those who did not. We found that in 2022, 66.0 percent of community-based clinicians treated VHA enrollees. These clinicians were more likely to...

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