VA Hospitals Have Gained Trust of More Veterans, Survey Says

According to the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), the results of a recent customer experience survey shows an average 2.4% increase in veteran trust of VA hospitals during fiscal year 2018.

“Listening to our veteran patients plays an important role in providing world class customer service,” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement.

For the survey, the VA asked 1,660,563 veterans about their trust in VA health care outpatient services. The timeline for the survey
began in the fall of 2017 and ended in September 2018. 

The VA invited veterans to respond to a survey after completing a Veterans Health Administration outpatient service appointment. The VA measured “trust” at the nationwide, hospital network, and individual VA Medical Centers (VAMC) level, and veterans were asked to rate their trust of the VA on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

According to the survey findings, the VA found that the “trust scores” of 128 of 139 VAMCs increased by an average of 2.4% by the end of Fiscal Year 2018.

Survey respondents also had the option to leave a free text response. The response could be a compliment, concern, or recommendation. The VA said that 439,730 veterans participated in the customer experience feedback. Of the responses:

• 68.2% were compliments;
• 19% were concerns; and,
• 12.8% were recommendations.

Based on the text responses, the VA found that veterans were concerned with issues such as the accessibility of specialty providers and services.

Further, some veterans recommended ways to improve parking at facilities and methods of expediting access to medications.

“VA is not only listening to our Veterans, but we are taking action on their concerns as well as their recommendations to improve VA health care,” Mr Wilkie concluded.  — Julie Gould