In the latest independent survey, 81 percent of VA hospital patients express satisfaction with the care they receive, compared to 77 percent of Medicare and Medicaid patients.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance, which ranks health care plans on 17 different performance measures, found that VA outperformed the highest rated non-VA hospitals in every single category.
VA exceeds the national average in quality scores from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
VA set the benchmark in patient satisfaction for hospital services in the American Customer Satisfaction Index, an indicator developed by the University of Michigan Business School.
According to a study by the Annals of Internal Medicine, VA provides veterans higher quality care than comparable patients receiving care from other providers.
The Institute of Medicine recently noted that VA's "integrated health information system, including its framework for using performance measures to improve quality, is considered one of the best in the nation."
