Male and female veterans receive similar health care

Men and women receive remarkably similar outpatient care from the US Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA) health care system, according to an Aug 8, 2005, news release from the VA. Researchers looked at nine measures of quality care that are equally appropriate for men and women to determine what percentage of VA patients receive appropriate care for their gender. ResuLts showed that men were more likely to receive appropriate services in five of the nine categories and women were more likely to receive appropriate services in the other four categories

Few studies have looked at disparities in care between men and women in ambulatory care settings other than VA settings; however, several studies have shown that women often receive poorer care than men after being admitted to hospitals for congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease, and other common medical conditions. ApproximateLy 10% of VA patients are women veterans, and this percentage is expected to grow in the future as the number of women in the military increases.