VA Community Care Comparison or VAC3 (formerly Why Not the Best VA) is a system for comparing Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospital system performance with regional and U.S. national benchmarks. This report includes key quality measures available on CMS Hospital Compare and top hospital recognition programs from reporting agencies of hospital quality. VAC3 data tables are updated every quarter.

VA Community Care Comparison or VAC3 (formerly Why Not the Best VA) is a system for comparing Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospital system performance with regional and U.S. national benchmarks. This report includes key quality measures available on CMS Hospital Compare and top hospital recognition programs from reporting agencies of hospital quality. VAC3 data tables are updated every quarter.

,The Performance and Operational Web-Enabled Reports (POWER) system is a state-of-the-art data warehouse containing data on Veterans Health Administration (VHA) performance metrics that are obtained daily from the individual Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) systems.The POWER system was developed to measure the key performance indicators across VHA facilities and is helping to improve VHA's Medical Care Collections Fund (MCCF) revenue operational performance by providing accurate, reliable, and up-to-date performance measure information. POWER leverages a data warehouse to maintain data used in VHA performance measure calculations. The site provides Web-based analytical reporting capabilities, allowing users to view data by dimensions, such as, National, Consolidated Patient Account Center (CPAC), Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN), or Station locations and by month. The data can also be displayed in tables, graphs and spreadsheets. It should be noted that POWER is not an accounting system; rather, it is a strategic and operational performance reporting system.The POWER system supports VHA's efforts to improve its revenue business operations by providing accurate and reliable performance information on the following metrics: Collections, Gross Days Revenue Outstanding (GDRO), Percentage of Accounts Receivable (AR) Greater than 90 Days, Days to Bill, Total Billings, Percentage of Collections to Billings, and Cost to Collect. POWER is VHA's revenue performance metric dashboard monitoring system that tracks MCCF performance by National, CPAC, VISN and Station.,

,The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Resident Supervision Handbook (VHA Handbook 1400.1) requires facility directors to report annually the status of their residency training programs to their Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) Director. VISN Directors review and then forward those reports to the VHA Chief Academic Affiliations Officer. This database enables electronic, paperless reporting of this information from VA Medical Centers to the VISN and from the VISN to the Office of Academic Affiliations.,

,The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has now collaborated with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to present information to consumers about the quality and safety of health care in VHA. VHA has approximately 50 percent of Veterans enrolled in the healthcare system who are eligible for Medicare and, therefore, have some choice in how and where they receive inpatient services. VHA has adopted healthcare transparency as a strategy to enhance public trust and to help Veterans make informed choices about their health care.VHA currently reports the following types of quality measures on Hospital Compare:Timely and effective care.Behavioral health.Readmissions and deaths.Patient safety.*Experience of care.,

,The 2008 Hospital Report Card was mandated by the FY08 Appropriations Act, and focused on Congressionally-mandated metrics applicable to general patient populations. The 2009 VHA Facility Quality and Safety Report report, not required by Congress, shifts to Veteran-centered metrics, and includes information related to infrastructure, care provided in outpatient and hospital settings, quality of care within given patient populations, accreditation status, patient satisfaction and patient outcomes for FY2008. The data in this report have been compiled from multiple sources throughout VHA. This dataset includes composite scores reflecting quality of care for outpatients (NEXUS) and inpatients (ORYX). Quality of outpatient care is further stratified by comparison of outpatient care by gender, age, and mental health diagnosis.,

,The 2008 Hospital Report Card was mandated by the FY08 Appropriations Act, and focused on Congressionally-mandated metrics applicable to general patient populations. The 2009 VHA Facility Quality and Safety Repor report, not required by Congress, shifts to Veteran-centered metrics, and includes information related to infrastructure, care provided in outpatient and hospital settings, quality of care within given patient populations, accreditation status, patient satisfaction and patient outcomes for FY2008. The data in this report have been compiled from multiple sources throughout VHA. This dataset is a compilation of available services within each medical center, whether a medical center is accreditated by Joint commission and/or CARF and details the number of admissions by bed section, admissions per 1000 uniques, and average length of stay by bed sections. Total number of outpatient visits, number of unique patients and the medical center staffing.,

,The 2008 Hospital Report Card was mandated by the FY08 Appropriations Act, and focused on Congressionally-mandated metrics applicable to general patient populations. The 2009 VHA Facility Quality and Safety Report report, not required by Congress, shifts to Veteran-centered metrics, and includes information related to infrastructure, care provided in outpatient and hospital settings, quality of care within given patient populations, accreditation status, patient satisfaction and patient outcomes for FY2008. The data in this report have been compiled from multiple sources throughout VHA. This dataset includes adjusted mortality rate for three defined populations: Pneumonia, Congestive Heart Failure, and Acute Myocardial Infarction, Nosocomisal Infections, Percent of patients on prophalaxis for deep vein thrombosis and Observed minus expected length of stay.,

,The 2008 Hospital Report Card was mandated by the FY08 Appropriations Act, and focused on Congressionally-mandated metrics applicable to general patient populations. The 2009 VHA Facility Quality and Safety Report report, not required by Congress, shifts to Veteran-centered metrics, and includes information related to infrastructure, care provided in outpatient and hospital settings, quality of care within given patient populations, accreditation status, patient satisfaction and patient outcomes for FY2008. The data in this report have been compiled from multiple sources throughout VHA. This dataset represents patient satisfaction based on survey data broken out by inpatient/outpatient and stratified ethnicity.,

,The Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program (VASQIP) database resides in the VA National Surgery Office (NSO) and is a quality assurance activity-derived database containing information on all patients who undergo surgery within the VA. The primary purpose of this database is to improve the quality of care for Veterans undergoing surgery by providing information to care provider teams for self-assessment and quality improvement purposes. Data for the VASQIP database are entered by nurse data managers using Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) at the VA surgical facilities. These data captured in VistA are securely transmitted to the VASQIP database for compilation and analysis. Results of the data analysis are reported from the National Surgery Office (NSO) for quarterly and annual review of surgical quality and patient care issues; these data are confidential and privileged under the provisions of 38 U.S.C. 5705 and its implementing regulations. Note: In 2009, the Cardiac Specialty program (Continuous Improvement in Cardiac Surgery Program (CICSP)) was merged with the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) for a comprehensive all-specialty surgical database, VASQIP. It employs both Microsoft SQL Server and Statistical Analysis Software implementation.,