Dengue Surveillance in Veterans Affairs Healthcare Facilities, 2007–2010

Dengue Surveillance in Veterans Affairs Healthcare Facilities, 2007–2010

BACKGROUND Although dengue is endemic in Puerto Rico (PR), 2007 and 2010 were recognized as epidemic years. In the continental United States (US), outside of the Texas-Mexico border, there had not been a dengue outbreak since 1946 until dengue re-emerged in Key West, Florida (FL), in 2009-2010. The objective of this study was to use electronic and manual surveillance systems to identify dengue ...

Estimating healthcare mobility in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System

BACKGROUND Healthcare mobility, defined as healthcare utilization in more than one distinct healthcare system, may have detrimental effects on outcomes of care. We characterized healthcare mobility and associated characteristics among a national sample of Veterans. METHODS Using the Veterans Health Administration Electronic Health Record, we conducted a retrospective cohort study to quantify ...

Transgender Veterans and the Veterans Health Administration: Exploring the Experiences of Transgender Veterans in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System

Purpose: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has provided transgender transition-related care to veterans since 2011. However, little is known about the experiences of transgender veteran patients accessing transgender transition-related healthcare at Veterans Affairs (VA) clinics since the establishment of this care. The purpose of this study was to explore transgender veterans' experienc...

Arteriovenous fistulas among incident hemodialysis patients in Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs facilities.

A higher proportion of patients initiate hemodialysis (HD) with an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) in countries with universal health care systems compared with the United States. Because federally sponsored national health care organizations in the United States, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), are similar to a universal health care model, we s...

Declining Rates of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in Veterans Affairs (VA) Long-term Care Facilities (LTCF)