Reforming the Veterans Health Administration — Beyond Palliation of Symptoms

Reforming the Veterans Health Administration--Beyond Palliation of Symptoms.

History of the Veterans Health Administration

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), one of three administrations within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), is the largest integrated health system in the United States. Suffering deservedly or not during the 1980s and early 1990s from a tarnished reputation of bureaucracy, inefficiency, and mediocre care, the VA sought to reinvent itself beginning in 1995 as a model system character...

Implementing CBTI at the Veterans Health Administration.

T has been considerable research indicating that the prevalence for insomnia is high, that cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBTI) is an effective treatment, and that it maintains its effectiveness during follow-up periods for as long as two years.1,2 Despite this, there have been diffi culties in disseminating CBTI so that more individuals would benefi t. The article by Manber et al. in...

Characteristics of Veterans diagnosed with seizures within Veterans Health Administration.

The purpose of this report is to describe the demographics of Veterans diagnosed with seizures and taking antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) during fiscal year (FY) 2011 (October 1, 2010, to September 30, 2011), particularly with regard to comorbid traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Information collected included age; s...

Veterans administration health care utilization among sexual minority veterans.

According to recent census reports, nearly a million veterans have a same-sex partner, yet little is known about them or their use of Veterans Health Care Administration (VHA) services. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) veterans recruited from the community (N = 356) completed an on-line survey to assess their rates of VHA utilization and whether they experience specific barriers to accessing VH...