Data on Rural Health Reported by Researchers at University of Iowa (Veteran Use of Health Care Systems in Rural States: Comparing VA and Non-VA…

Data on Rural Health Reported by Researchers at University of Iowa (Veteran Use of Health Care Systems in Rural States: Comparing VA and Non-VA Health Care Use Among Privately Insured Veterans Under Age 65)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Week -- Current study results on Health and Medicine - Rural Health have been published. According to news reporting from Iowa City, Iowa, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, "To quantify use of VA and non-VA care among working-age veterans with private insurance by linking VA data to private health insurance plan (PHIP) data. Demographics and utilization were compared between dual users of VA and non-VA systems versus single-system users for veterans < 65 living in 2 rural Midwestern states concurrently enrolled in VA health care and a PHIP for >= 1 complete federal fiscal year from 2000 to 2010."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Iowa, "Chi-square and t-tests were used for univariate analyses. VA reliance was computed as the percentage of visits, admissions and prescriptions in VA. Multinomial logistic regression was used to compare characteristics by dual use versus non-VA only or VA only use. Of 16,330 eligible veterans, 54% used both VA and non-VA services, 39% used non-VA only, and 5% used VA only. Compared with single-system use, dual use was associated with older age, priority levels 1-4, service-connected conditions, rural residence, greater years of study eligibility, and enrollment in the PHIP before VA. VA reliance was 33% for outpatient care, 14% for inpatient, and 40% for pharmacy. PHIP data substantially underestimated VA use compared to VA data; 26% who used VA health care had no VA claims in the PHIP dataset. Over half of working-age veterans enrolled in VA and private insurance used services in both systems."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Care coordination efforts across systems should include veterans of all ages, particularly rural veterans more likely to be dual users, and better methods are needed to identify veterans with private insurance and their private providers."

For more information on this research see: Veteran Use of Health Care Systems in Rural States: Comparing VA and Non-VA Health Care Use Among Privately Insured Veterans Under Age 65. Journal of Rural Health, 2016;32(4):407-417. Journal of Rural Health can be contacted at: Wiley-Blackwell, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Journal of Rural Health - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-0361)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting M.E. Charlton, University of Iowa, Coll Public Hlth, Dept. of Epidemiol, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States. Additional authors for this research include M.A. Mengeling, J.A. Schlichting, L. Jiang, C. Turvey, A.N. Trivedi, K.W. Kizer and A.N. West (see also Health and Medicine - Rural Health).

Keywords for this news article include: Iowa City, Iowa, United States, North and Central America, Rural Health, Health and Medicine, University of Iowa.

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