In this book, Suzanne Gordon highlights why these views miss the mark. Unfortunately, missteps by the VA in recent years have led some politicians and members of the media to suggest that the VA has returned to its post-Vietnam era state of functioning-and that they were right all along about government programs. Increasingly, the Veterans Healthcare System was touted as a model for twenty-first-century healthcare-a model, it was argued, that private-sector hospitals and health plans should emulate. Among other notable publications, the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, New York Times, Forbes, and Time began applauding the VA for improvements in the quality of its healthcare services, its pioneering use of information technology, and a newfound responsiveness to veterans. However-and remarkably to many-the VA’s image began to dramatically change in the late 1990s and continuing into the early 2000s. Critics cast the VA as a symbol of ineffective and bloated government bureaucracy, and it became the poster child for those who argued that government can never do anything right. IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING THE WAR IN VIETNAM, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system was viewed by many as a bleak backwater of inefficiency, indifference, and incompetence. Empowering Nurses and Providing High-Quality Patient CareĬhapter 15. Conversation with a CommissionerĬhapter 14. Not Everyone Heard on Capitol HillĬhapter 12. What Kind of Patient Experience?Ĭhapter 10. The New York Times Wait-Time FixationĬhapter 6. Ignoring the Facts: The Anti-Vet AgendaĬhapter 3. RUSSELL, REBECCA, LOU, AND JUDI TABLE OF CONTENTSĬhapter 2. THE BATTLE FOR VETERANS’ HEALTHCARE Dispatches from the Frontlines of Policy Making and Patient Care SUZANNE GORDON Without lobbying efforts and broader public understanding of what’s at stake, a system now functioning far better than most private hospital systems may end up looking more like them, to the detriment of patients and providers alike. The Battle for Veterans’ Healthcare is an essential primer on VHA care and a call to action by veterans, their advocacy organizations, and political allies. Drawing on interviews with veterans and their families, VHA staff and administrators, health care policy experts and Congressional decision makers, Gordon describes a federal agency under siege that nevertheless accomplishes its difficult mission of serving men and women injured, in myriad ways, while on active duty. Gordon’s collected dispatches provide insight and information too often missing from mainstream media reporting on the VHA and from Capitol Hill debates about its future. In The Battle for Veterans' Healthcare, award-winning author Suzanne Gordon takes us to the front lines of federal policymaking and healthcare delivery, as it affects eight million Americans whose military service makes them eligible for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) coverage.
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