While ratings for many of its nursing homes were subpar last spring, the VA is reporting it has made drastic improvements for the same time period this year. The VA posted its full list of rankings here.
The VA said there are 11 nursing homes with the lowest rating - a decrease from about 60 facilities with that rating last year. The VA said it continues to improve its facilities.
The VA said its disclosure of the ratings aligns with its efforts to be more transparent, but it follows persistent requests from reporters from USA Today and The Boston Globe, who had been making requests to the VA dating back to at least 2017.
“Now that VA has made a commitment to reporting accurate, quality and comparative data on its nursing homes, we are pleased to begin adding that important information to our transparency portfolio for the benefit of veterans in making their health care choices,” said Peter O'Rourke, acting VA secretary, in a press release. “Further, we will release this data annually and use it to driveimprovements across the VA nursing home system, including aggressive efforts to improve our 11 one-star facilities by sharing best practices.”
VA officials touted the system's direct attention to patients. Officials said nursing homes have a higher staff-to-resident ratio than private sector facilities, giving patients more direct attention.
Unlike nursing homes in the private sector, the VA often serves residents with challenging medical conditions, such as a higher proportion of residents with conditions like prostate obstruction, spinal cord injury, mental illness, homelessness, post traumatic stress disorder, combat injury and terminal illness.
Officials from the VA have said quality ratings are also impacted by the system's responsibility to take in veterans, no matter how challenging their health conditions.
The top-rated VA nursing homes:
- Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven Campus, Connecticut
- Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center, New York
- Veterans Affairs Western New York Healthcare System at Batavia, New York
- Erie Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Pennsylvania
- Lebanon Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Pennsylvania
- Wilmington Health Care Center, North Carolina
- North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Healthcare System - Malcolm Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center
- Caribbean Health Care System
- Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Virginia
- Mountain Home Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Virginia
- Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Ohio
- Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Michigan
- Battle Creek Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Michigan
- Aleda E. Lutz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Michigan
- Oscar G. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Michigan
- Nebraska Western Iowa Health Care System - Grand Island Division, Nebraska
- Veterans Affairs Eastern Kansas Health Care System - Colmery O'Neil, Kansas
- Veterans Affairs Eastern Kansas Health Care System - Dwight D. Eisenhower Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Kansas
- Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Texas
- South Texas Veterans Health Care System- San Antonio, Texas
- West Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Texas
- Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Wyoming
- Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Idaho
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Oregon
- Mann-Grandstaff Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Washington
- Central California Veterans Health Care System, California
- Livermore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, California
- Veterans Affairs Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center, California
- Veterans Affairs Loma Linda Healthcare System, California
- Veterans Affairs Long Beach Healthcare System, California
- Carksburg - Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, West Virginia
- Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Illinois
- William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Wisconsin
- Trinka Davis Veterans' Village Clinic, Georgia
Facilities with the lowest rankings:
- Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Massachusetts
- Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System, New Jersey
- W.G. (Bill) Hefner Veterans Affairs Medical Center, North Carolina
- Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Alabama
- Carl Vinson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Georgia
- James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Florida
- Chillicothe Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Ohio
- Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Ohio
- Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, Mississippi
- G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Mississippi
- Northern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Arizona
Amanda Dolasinski is MOAA's staff writer. She can be reached at amandad@moaa.org. Follow her on Twitter @AmandaMOAA.