摘要：Increasing numbers of women veterans using Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) services has contributed to the need for equitable, high-quality care for women. The VA has evaluated performance measure data by gender since 2006. In 2008, the VA launched a 5-year women’s health redesign, and, in 2011, gender disparity improvement was included on leadership performance plans. We examined data from VA Office of Analytics and Business Intelligence quarterly gender reports for trends in gender disparities in gender-neutral performance measures from 2008 to 2013. Through reporting of data by gender, leadership involvement, electronic reminders, and population management dashboards, VA has seen a decreasing trend in gender inequities on most Health Effectiveness Data and Information Set performance measures. Since 2000, the number of women veterans using Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) services has doubled. 1 With the unprecedented increase in women seeking care in a health care system previously dedicated to men, it is imperative for VA to provide equitable, high-quality care to women veterans. In 2006, VA began analyzing performance measure data by gender. Although VA outperforms the private sector in many quality measures for men and women, within the VA, significant gender disparities were initially noted. In 2008, the VA’s Women’s Health Services launched a 5-year women’s health care redesign plan to ensure that women veterans receive comprehensive primary care from skilled providers, performance measures are reported by gender to VA leadership, and feedback is given to providers. In 2011, gender disparity improvement was included as a performance measure in the Healthcare Leadership Annual Performance Plan. Provision of equitable, high-quality care to women includes both gender-specific and gender-neutral care. We examined trends in disparities in a subset of gender-neutral VA performance measures from 2008 to 2013 after implementation of a strategic plan focusing on VA women’s health care and increased leadership attention to gender disparities in performance measures.
