Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the November edition of the QPS newsletter! As we mentioned earlier, you’ll now be getting QPS news delivered monthly to your inbox. The QPS team works continuously to improve the care of Veterans and their families, so more frequent communication will keep you better updated on our success.

As many of you know, I will be retiring at the end of the year after 45 years of combined military and VA service. As I prepare to begin my leave and bid farewell to QPS, I want to not only say goodbye and thank you, but to recognize the impact on Veteran care we’ve made together.

This team and VA have achieved a great deal since the Office of Quality and Patient Safety was formed in 2020 as part of VHA’s Central Office reorganization. Since that first day, our goals have been to elevate the importance and the visibility of quality and patient safety within VHA; drive quality improvement as part of the mission of every VHA facility and program office; and support VHA’s journey toward becoming a High Reliability Organization. We’ve also continually looked for opportunities to strengthen relationships with quality and patient safety professionals at VISNs and VA medical centers and focused on ensuring safe, timely, effective, efficient, and equitable care for Veterans. We couldn’t have done this, and more, without every member of Team QPS and our colleagues across VA.

And our work is paying off! As we’ve discussed before, in both years of VA’s inclusion in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Overall Hospital Star Ratings VA facilities were more likely to be a 4 or 5-star facility than non-VA facilities. And for the past nine quarters, VA has outperformed non-VA facilities in all 10 core patient satisfaction domains of CMS’s Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey. This is on top of the 2023 systematic review that showed VA care is as good, or better, than non-VA care.

VA has achieved these things, and more, thanks to the hard work of its employees across the enterprise, and through the efforts of Team QPS and our partners in the field. We’ve accomplished so much, and it is a direct reflection of our devoted and highly engaged workforce. Year after year, our All-Employee Survey (AES) scores bear that out. Our AES scores were some of the highest in VA and continue to get better. We had a 94% response rate and QPS scored an 82 out of 100 for Best Place to Work, compared to the overall VA score of 72.

Thank you for all your hard work and for the lasting memories of our time working together. You should all be proud of the results and the effort you put in to make Veteran care better and safer. I expect you will continue this tradition of exceptional work, and I look forward to seeing your success.

Please enjoy this issue and, as always, take care and be well.

Gerry

Gerard R. Cox, MD, MHA
Associate Deputy Under Secretary for Health
Office of Quality & Patient Safety

Each year, approximately 9 million Veterans trust VA for their health care, making VA America’s largest health care provider. Veterans demonstrate trust in the VA system every time they show up for a medical appointment, log in for a telehealth visit, or interact with professionals who manage their care.

Ensuring the qualifications of the clinical staff providing care at VA is vital to building a world-class health care system. That’s why each year during Medical Staff Professionals Week, VA honors the more than 1,200 credentialing and privileging (C&P) professionals who validate that trust.

This year, Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Defense Department (DOD) published their first-ever clinical practice guideline (CPG) for tinnitus, an ear condition that affects millions.

Since 1998, VA has collaborated with DOD to develop CPGs. The VA/DOD Evidence-Based Practice Work Group directs development of the guidelines to ensure best practices are shared across VA and DOD health care systems, helping to reduce variations in care and improve clinical outcomes for patients.