“Twenty-two percent of the patient population at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is black, and yet the health system still experiences challenges in promoting health equity and closing racial health disparities, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).”
“Health equity issues within the VA mirror those seen in civilian health systems, GAO added as a caveat.”
“VA has been making a concerted effort to address health disparities, especially those that fall along racial lines. In 2012, the agency created the Office of Health Equity, which sought to understand and remedy the challenges that impede health equity among veteran populations…”
“However, GAO found that the extent of VA’s progress in implementing the action plan and advancing health equity is unknown because the action plan lacked performance measures and clear lines of accountability for specific offices,” the report continued.
“Specifically, VA had no specific measures that could determine whether the agency had indeed been successful in promoting those five key principles.”
“Also detrimental to VA’s efforts is inaccurate or incomplete race data, which…” Read the full article here.
Source: VA Faces Challenges With Racial Health Equity, Health Disparities – By Sara Heath, January 15, 2020. Patient Engagement HIT.
