In last week’s Military Update, Tom Philpott reports that Department of Veteran Affairs' commitment to improve women's health services and to close a “gender gap” in preventive health services is making women veterans feel more welcome at VA hospitals and clinics after years of making them feel as if they weren’t really veterans.
VA has begun to change their reputation in part by putting over 1500 primary care providers through a 40-hour program to improve their understanding of issues like birth control, maternity care, and PTSD in women.
Unfortunately, many women veterans continue to have misconceptions about the quality of VA health care and stay away. But, according to the article, patient satisfaction surveys and VA health care enrollment numbers indicate that women veterans who use VA care often choose to stay with it over other health insurance. Like male veterans, females are rating VA health care over care provided by the private sector.
