Measurement in veterans
affairs health services research: veterans as a special population
The U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development (VA HSR&D)
service has been a leader in focusing on system-wide measurement excellence,
in part because veterans represent a distinct and special population.
Veterans are a large and highly selected group with an increasingly
recognized cultural identity. Further, eligible veterans are served
by a large, nationally integrated health care system.
Thus, the veteran population and the VA health system embody
a microcosm in which measurement quality must be assessed
and addressed. In this article, we briefly discuss the consequences
of poor measurement and the importance of assessing measurement
quality across the varied populations in which health services
research is conducted, using the veteran population as a case
example. We then introduce a series of related articles, each
of which focuses on a measurement issue important in current
health services research. |
