PORTLAND, Ore. — Using a 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. VA Portland Health Care System (VAPORHCS) is ranked in the top eight of 146 VA facilities in its measured improvements from last summer.
Compared with data from the same period a year ago, the July 2018 release of VA’s Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning (SAIL) report showed 103 (71 percent) VA medical centers (VAMCs) have improved in overall quality.
“This report is one of a number of tools we use to help guide our health care system to improve the quality of services we provide to our Veterans,” said VAPORHCS Director Michael Fisher. “It has driven our success in reducing employee turnover, improving physician capacity, and achieving better outcomes for our patients with chronic conditions. We owe our Veterans the best care possible and this report identifies those areas where we can maximize our improvement efforts.”
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.