Frequently Asked Questions
About Access to Care
You can find information on:
- Appointment wait times and availability by specialty.
- Quality data on how VA medical centers and nursing homes are meeting quality standards.
- How satisfied Veterans are with health care at VA medical centers.
- Other health care information that may be useful such as seasonal disease information.
Much of this information is required by law to be shared with Veterans and the public.
Please contact your preferred VA medical center to register for VA care, make an appointment, reach your provider, or access the many services at your local facility. These options and services are not available on the Access to Care site.
Navigate Your Health with VA's Access to Care Website
How to Use ATC
On Access to Care, you can explore many types of health care information to help you make informed decisions about your or a loved one's health care and find available VA care anywhere in the VA health care system.
You may find more information on this site than you need. This information is given because VA is committed to providing timely, high quality health care and openly sharing our progress with Veterans and the public.
For researchers and members of the media, look for downloadable datasets that are available throughout Access to Care.
Additional VA information on quality of care is also available at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Care Compare.
Facility and Provider Quality Information
Quality Information
Domains and Areas of Care
Measures in Access and Quality Information are organized by categories of data called domains.
VA data may not be available if services are not offered, technical limitations prevent data collection or sample sizes are too small.
VA Mission Act: Standards for Quality
Effective Care
Providing services based on scientific knowledge of what is likely to benefit Veterans.
Effective Care measures show how often or how quickly hospitals provide evidence-based care that obtains the best results for patients with certain conditions. These measures are typically focused on preventive care tests and techniques as well as treatment of chronic conditions.
Where the information comes from
VA collects measurement data and information through the VA’s External Peer Review Process (EPRP), directly from electronic medical records, or from internal data collection processes. Validation of VHA data is performed by independent 3rd party reviewers through the EPRP process, by VA staff, and by The Joint Commission, depending on the measure.
About the measures
VA outpatient measures closely follow the specifications set forth by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS), however VA measures are not currently certified as HEDIS, but rather "HEDIS-like". VA has utilized data from NCQA's Quality Compass® to establish regional averages for hospitals that fall within geographic boundaries that match areas covered by Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN). National and VISN regional averages (*) allow for comparing HEDIS results for VA facilities to what consumers will find in their community.
The VA outpatient measures are updated on a quarterly basis, whereas comparison measures from NCQA are updated once annually.
(*) VISN Regional Average is derived from Quality Compass state data based on states within the given VISN area. NCQA has not validated and disclaims all liability for this calculation.
Safe Care
Avoiding harm to Veterans from care intended to help them.
Where the information comes from
Healthcare Associated Infections
The healthcare-associated infection (HAI) measures are developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and collected through the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). The VA submits the data for all the facilities to NHSN. These measures show how often patients in a particular hospital contract certain infections during the course of their medical treatment, when compared to similar hospitals. These infections can often be prevented when healthcare facilities follow guidelines for safe care.
Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs)
The PSIs are a set of indicators providing information on potential in-hospital complications and adverse events following surgeries and procedures. (Note: VA data for the PSIs are also provided on CMS’s Care Compare site but many of them need to be downloaded. So, we have retained the PSI data on the ATC site as they are easy to access and see the related information.)
The PSI rates are risk adjusted to account for differences in patient characteristics across hospitals they are comparing. The rate for each PSI is calculated by dividing the actual number of outcomes at each hospital by the number of eligible discharges for that measure at each hospital, multiplied by 1,000. These are never events so lower is better.
Veteran-Centered Care
Veterans' experience with care at the facility. Veteran-centered care is guided by Veteran and caregiver preferences, needs, and values.
Where the information comes from
VA collects feedback from Veterans regarding their patient experiences through the administration of inpatient and outpatient surveys which cover a broad array of important healthcare experiences to help assess the quality of care from the patient's perspective. VA uses the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) family of surveys to measure patient experiences. CAHPS was developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and is considered the industry standard for measuring patient experiences. More information about the CAHPS family of surveys can be found here.
Wait Times
New and established patient wait times
Where the information comes from
Actual Appointment availability varies based on the date and time the website updates. The best way to obtain an appointment date is to call or go online and request an appointment.
If you need to be seen by a provider before your next scheduled appointment, same-day services may be an option. Please contact your local facility. If you or someone you know is in emotional crisis, please call the Veterans Crisis Line at 988 and Press 1 for Veterans. Someone who can help you will answer right away.
VA has upgraded the way average wait times are calculated and displayed on the Access to Care website and now includes additional steps in the appointment process that had not been captured in the past. This data comes from Veteran appointments scheduled over the past month that have been completed or scheduled to occur. Click on the link below to learn more about the calculation changes and how VA is measuring timeliness for sites that have fully implemented the new electronic health record system.
Understanding the Third Next Available Appointment
Provider Information
Provider Information lists the primary licensed independent practice providers at VA medical centers. Providers in the following occupations are listed:
- Advanced Practice Nurses
- Audiologists
- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists
- Chiropractors
- Clinical Nurse Specialists
- Clinical Pharmacist Practitioners
- Dentists
- Optometrists
- Physicians
- Physician Assistants
- Podiatrists
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
- Speech Pathologists
For each provider, you will see these data elements:
- Full name
- Clinical product line to which they are assigned
- Where they received their medical training
- The school from which they received their medical degree
This information is updated monthly. Staffing changes since the last refresh of information may not be available.
For additional information on physicians, we also encourage you to use the "DocInfo" service offered by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB). The FSMB website is updated monthly and is a public website to provide information related to any physician who is licensed in any US state, territory, or district.
Care Compare
How Veterans Can Use CMS Care Compare
VA data for some quality measures are also found on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Care Compare website. Care Compare helps people make decisions about where to get health care and encourages hospitals and healthcare providers to improve their quality of care.
Public transparency is not new for VA. Care Compare first started reporting data for VA medical centers in 2010, and this process is ongoing. VA and CMS collaborate closely on information shared on Care Compare so VA can be as open as possible with Veterans and the public about VA’s quality performance across many areas.
Information from Access to Care (ATC) and Care Compare provide a comprehensive view of VA’s quality performance.