NEW ORLEANS – Using an annual web-based report scorecard that measures, evaluates and benchmarks quality and efficiency at its medical centers, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently released data that showed significant improvements at the majority of its health care facilities.
Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System (SLVHCS) was one of the facilities that made positive strides in the benchmarks and is striving to continue progress.
“We are continuing on the journey of high reliability in quality and safety by maintaining high standards in existing accreditation processes and through the achievement of new accreditation awards,” said SLVHCS Medical Center Director Fernando O. Rivera said in a press release about the report.
“We’ve made a lot of progress since opening our new Veterans medical center in New Orleans. We’re excited about once again becoming a care center of excellence for cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery for our nation’s heroes in a facility that is all their own, giving Veterans a greater choice in their care.”
Most facilities have improved in overall quality — with the largest gains seen in areas where there were VA-wide improvement initiatives, such as mortality, length of stay and avoidable adverse events. Only a few VAMCs had a small decrease in quality
“This is a major step in the right direction to improving our quality of services for our Veterans,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “Over the past year, we were able to identify our problems and implement solutions to fixing the issues… I’m extremely proud of our employees and the progress they have made to raise VA’s performance for our nation’s heroes.”
The quarterly SAIL report, which has been released publicly since 2015, assesses 25 quality metrics and two efficiency and productivity metrics in areas such as death rate, complications and patient satisfaction, as well as overall efficiency and physician capacity at 146 VAMCs. It is used as an internal learning tool for VA leaders and personnel to pinpoint and study VAMCs with high quality and efficiency scores, both within specific measured areas and overall. The data is also used to identify best practices and develop strategies to help troubled facilities improve.
