Assessment of Changes in US Veterans Health Administration Care Delivery Methods During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Liam Rose,Anita Vashi,Steven M. Asch,Linda Diem Tran

doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.29139

Abstract

This cross-sectional study assesses changes in health care delivery methods, including all forms of care either purchased or provided by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), for VHA enrollees in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlights

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) manages an integrated health care system that has expenditures of nearly $100 billion per year and serves more than 9 million enrollees.[1]
In this cross-sectional study of health care use patterns of VHA enrollees, we observed substantial and persistent changes in the number of virtual and community care encounters over the year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
Limitations of this study include a likely lag in adjudication of more recent community care claims, which indicates that current estimates of community care encounters may be underestimated

Summary

Introduction

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) manages an integrated health care system that has expenditures of nearly $100 billion per year and serves more than 9 million enrollees.[1]. Diverse operating environments, and geographically dispersed patient population make it difficult for the VHA to pivot nimbly and ensure access to care, this health system was able to leverage its existing infrastructure and prior planning to rapidly scale virtual care services (ie, telephone and video) for enrollees in 2020.2,3 In this study, we took a broad look at how VHA care patterns, including all forms of care either purchased (known as community care) or provided by the VHA, have shifted in association with the COVID-19 pandemic

Methods

Results

Conclusion