Comparing VA and non-VA health care: the case of post-stroke rehabilitation

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) runs the largest integrated health system in the country, and provides care to nearly 4 million patients each year. It has been dogged by persistent doubts about its efficiency and quality of care, despite numerous quality improvement programs and an extensive reorganization in 1995. In fact, recent studies have found that health care in the VA compares favorably with non-VA systems, in areas such as preventive care and treatment for acute myocardial infarction. This Issue Brief summarizes a comparison in another area-inpatient rehabilitation for stroke- and highlights the difficulty and complexity of assessing quality across systems of care.