The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), representing medical schools nationwide, is recognizing Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) initiatives to advance equity in health care through VA’s new National Veteran Health Equity Report. The National Veteran Health Equity Report advances understanding of the many factors to be considered when treating Veterans. The report can be used as a tool to set treatment goals for vulnerable Veterans in order to reduce health care disparities they experience. Clinicians in VA and in the private sector are already using the report to understand and better address health issues among diverse patient populations.
“The Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) National Veteran Health Equity Report e-book includes extensive data clinicians can utilize to tailor care to individual Veterans’ experiences and health care goals,” said Under Secretary for Health, David Shulkin, M.D. “This extraordinary resource exemplifies Secretary Robert McDonald’s vision of MyVA and is another example of how VA puts the best interests of Veterans at the center of all we do.”
Data for the National Veteran Health Equity Report are from centralized, national VA administrative databases of enrollment; outpatient, inpatient, and Non-VA (Fee) medical care, but do not include long-term care services or care received privately by health care patients. All of the report chapters are written by VA subject matter experts.