Who are the women using VA and how can we elucidate their needs?: The VA Women's Health Evaluation Initiative

Background: Among the multiple initiatives for women Veterans recently launched by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the Women's Health Evaluation Initiative (WHEI), which examines national VHA databases to help inform national women's health program development and strategic planning. Methods: WHEI draws upon multiple national VHA clinical and administrative databases to identify sociodemographic characteristics, health status and utilization patterns of all women Veterans who have used VHA over the past decade. WHEI also characterizes male Veteran VHA patients, permitting gender comparisons. Results: The number of women Veteran VHA patients has nearly doubled over the decade from 2001-2010. Women on average are substantially younger than men in VHA, although the largest group of women are those in the middle age group. Women Veterans tend to use VHA services heavily; most received primary care services in VHA, and 38% used mental health services at least once in 2010. Women were also twice as likely as men to receive some of their VHA care through outsourcing. Conclusions: Capitalizing on data from WHEI and from other program evaluation and research initiatives, VHA is actively refining systems of care to optimize its ability to respond to women Veterans' unique health care needs. Looking to the future, VHA has recently launched the Women's Health Research Network, which promotes multi-site, practice-based research to provide the evidence base needed for further enhancements to care for the women Veterans VHA serves.