How the VA can better service Women Veterans

This post is part of a new series, Disparities & Disservice: Women Veterans Deserve Better Health Care. The series will culminate with a briefing on Thursday, November 13 at noon. I am an Army veteran who was disabled during military service, a health policy advocate for my fellow women veterans, and a long-time patient of the VA health care system. As a patient, I have personally received excellent care through VA for more than two decades, and continue to see progress made in the overall delivery of health care to women. As an advocate, I know there are still many policy, program and cultural changes that must be implemented to ensure federal agencies, including the VA, are providing equitable services to women veterans and fully meeting their unique health care and transition needs. The goal of VA provided care and services should be to recognize military service and sacrifice and assist veterans – all veterans – in successfully transitioning from the military to civilian life. But just to illustrate the severity of the gender-gap, nearly one in four VA hospitals do not have a full-time gynecologist on staff. This is a major shortfall in providing unique, necessary care to women veterans, and it must be fixed. Over the past decade, the number of women who enrolled in the VA health care system doubled, and it’s expected to double again in the next five years. More women than ever are serving in the active military services, the National Guard and reserve component...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Access Women's Health Source Type: blogs