The Veterans Health Care Reform Act of 1996 allowed the VA, for the first time, to offer a comprehensive package of care to an enrolled population of veterans. Planning for the demand for care by enrolled veterans is based upon an actuarial model. The development of projections for the number of enrollees and for expenditures required estimates of "reliance" for enrollees. The amount of care provided within the VA was known, but the amount of care provided by non-VA providers was not available. Reliance is the proportion of care delivered to an enrollee that is provided by the VA. The amount of care rendered to enrollees during 1998 by VA and non-VA providers was determined by The Survey of Veteran Enrollees' Health and Reliance upon VA. This telephone survey of approximately 27,000 veteran enrollees was stratified by network (22 geographically defined networks), priority (seven priorities), and new/past (whether treated within the past three years) users of the VA. A 73% response rate was achieved. The instrument included items related to enrollees' demographic characteristics, insurance status, health status, and anticipated future use of VA health services. he survey responses were weighted to the enrolled population of 3.6 million veteran enrollees. Analyses were conducted using SAS-callable SUDAAN. Reliance data were used for the actuarial projections for each stratum for FY00 through FY04. Future use, health status and other data are used for planning and policy making by the networks and the VA central office. Selected results for the Nation are presented.
Learning Objectives: 1. Discuss the need for a survey of enrolled veterans. 2. Define "reliance" as applied to veterans' health care. 3. List three results of the survey
Keywords: Veterans' Health, Survey
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.