The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that VA hospitals have outperformed non-VA hospitals in two major independent, nationwide reviews for patient satisfaction and care quality.
In the most recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems star ratings, 79% of VA facilities received a summary star rating of 4 or 5 stars compared to 40% of non-VA hospitals. This marks the ninth consecutive quarter in which VA facilities have outperformed their non-VA counterparts.
Additionally, in this year’s CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings, more than 58% of VA hospitals included received 4- or 5-star ratings compared to 40% of non-VA hospitals. This is only the second year VA hospitals have been included in this review, and they have outperformed non-VA health care in both years.
These findings coincide with an all-time record high of 92% Veteran trust in VA outpatient care, based on a survey of more than 440,000 Veterans. They also align with a recent systematic review indicating that VA health care is consistently as good as or better than non-VA health care.
Providing world-class care for Veterans remains a top priority for the VA and the Biden-Harris administration. Over the past year, efforts have been made to increase night and weekend clinics, decrease wait times, and expand eligibility for millions of Veterans to access VA care.
“We’ve made millions more Veterans eligible for VA health care under the PACT Act – and now, we want to make sure that every one of them gets timely access to the world-class care they deserve,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “Whenever a Veteran sets foot in a VA facility, we want them to know that they are getting the very best care this nation has to offer – and we won’t ever settle for anything less.”
“It’s our commitment that every eligible Veteran not only can choose VA health care but when they do, that they get the very best and safest care possible,” said VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, M.D. “For the second year in a row, VA care has been shown to be some of the best in the nation. We are dedicated to continuously improving as we strive towards always providing the highest quality of care to Veterans.”
Since the enactment of the PACT Act two years ago, nearly 740,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA health care—a 33% increase over the previous two-year period. The VA is on pace to deliver 127 million health care appointments in 2024, surpassing last year’s record of 120 million.
Both CMS ratings aim to help patients make informed decisions about their healthcare providers. CMS awards Overall Star Ratings based on five categories: mortality, safety of care, readmission rates, patient experience, and timely and effective care. The HCAHPS summary star ratings combine information across ten measures of patient experience including staff communication and responsiveness.
This year's Overall Star Ratings are based on data collected between July 2019 and March 2023. The current HCAHPS star ratings are based on data from October 2022 through September 2023.
Local VA hospital ratings can be found via CMS’ Care Compare tool. For more information about enrolling in VA health care or Veteran trust in the system, visit their respective websites.
