Some have asked me if I’ve ever trained in the VA. I did my 3rd year medicine rotation, 4th year medicine sub-internship, 3 years of medicine residency including numerous VA rotations, and moonlighted for 3 years in the ER, all at the VA. So the answer is yes.

More fallout from last week’s story about how the VA exaggerates its quality claims:

Deceptions about appointment wait times and patient satisfaction are wrong, and overstating the availability of PTSD treatment is reprehensible. (Why not ask for the money to give vets what they need?) Still, in my opinion, skewing clinical data to overstate results is the most serious charge of all. A RAND study cited by the VA didn’t say what VA officials claimed it said: namely, that the VA performed better than 12 other systems. Officials went on to say that RAND had concluded that veterans “receive better health care than any other patients in America.” The RAND study was not designed for that purpose, and found no such thing . . .

. . . I’m not comfortable with any of the rosy reports on the VA’s effectiveness. They may well be doing a terrific job in outcomes, but there’s no independent verification of that fact. Until there is, I would argue that using the VA as a model for national reform should be put on hold.

This is not to say that the VA doesn’t have some redeeming qualities. As I’ve mentioned numerous times, its EHR is unsurpassed and light-years ahead of anything in the private sector. (via Joe Paduda)