Best Care Anywhere, 2nd Edition: Why VA Health Care Is Better Than Yours

Best Care Anywhere, 2nd Edition demonstrates how an ongoing quality revolution in the nation’s veterans hospitals provides deep lessons for reforming the U.S. health care system as a whole. The new edition is particularly timely with the winding down of the national debate over health care insurance reform, which will necessarily shift focus of reform to the practice of medicine itself. The VA, by making extensive use of electronic medical records and evidence-based medicine, has developed a model of 21st century health care that boosts safety, cost effectiveness, and patient satisfaction. And in so doing, it has proven that most of we think we know about health care is just wrong. New to this edition: · Discussion of vast changes in health care politics since 2007, and how the VA model of care fits in. · New insights on how the VA model will shape 21st century health care. · How Bush administration policies undermined many successful aspects of VA health care, and how the Obama administration is beginning to put matter right for our wounded warriors. · Updated coverage of federal information technology initiatives in health care, and the lessons provided by the VA’s “open source” software development. * New information on the continuing consequences of exposure to Agent Orange, and its deeper implications for rethinking who should have access to VA care. * A proposal for rolling out a new civilian version of the VA that now has gained political viability in light of the overall failure of other approaches to health care reform. A civilian VA is a true “public option” in health care for which Progressives and other Americans must rally.