The Health Care Needs of Women Veterans
Ana E. Dvoredsky M.D.1 and
William Cooley Ph.D.2
1 The Psychiatry Service the North Chicago Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) the University of Health Sciences—The Chicago Medical School
2 The VA Information Systems Center, Great Lakes Region
Although women veterans accounted for 4.1 percent of all veterans in 1983, they accounted for only 1.5 percent of all discharges from Veterans Administration hospitals in that year. These data suggest that women veterans are not utilizing their health care benefits as often as male veterans do, possibly because they are choosing to receive health care in non-VA facilities. Furthermore, the patterns of utilization for women veterans suggest a selective use of VA hospitals for serious illnesses that require protracted care. The author explores some possible explanations for this phenomenon and emphasizes the need for the VA health care system to incorporate such information in the planning of health care services for women veterans.
Note:
The authors thank the North Chicago VA administrative staff, who provided many necessary statistical documents, Frederick Sierles, M.D., for his review of the manuscript, and Andrea Dvoredsky, for her review of computer printouts.
