Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion

The 2014 Veterans Choice Program (VCP) allows eligible Veterans to receive health care from non-VA providers in certain circumstances, such as distance from their VA facility or long waits for appointments.

The 2014 Veterans Choice Program (VCP) allows eligible Veterans to receive health care from non-VA providers in certain circumstances, such as distance from their VA facility or long waits for appointments.  CHERP Investigator Susan Zickmund, PhD, is leading a fast-track study to understand the impact of the VCP on Veterans’ satisfaction with VA Care, their Choice Act care, and their Choice act pharmacy benefits.  Drawing on the research infrastructure for the current VA Merit study--Disparities in Satisfaction with Care (DISC)--the new DISC Choice evaluation will interview Veterans and VA employees about their satisfaction with VCP.

The evaluation seeks to accomplish two specific goals by conducting (1) an early assessment of Veteran satisfaction with the VCP and the impact of the VCP on VA medication therapy and pharmacy benefits, and (2) a formative evaluation of the barriers and facilitators to the successful implementation of the VCP based on interviews with key VA stakeholders. Working with CHERP investigators Drs. Bernie Good, Walid Gellad, Carolyn Thorpe and Joshua Thorpe, the evaluation will also (3) partner with Pharmacy Benefits Management to create a pharmacy database to assess patterns of medication use, use of formulary and non-formulary medications, quality and safety of medication therapy and medication costs for enrollees in the VCP. Finally, the evaluation will partner with the VA Informatics & Computing Infrastructure (VINCI) to develop a machine learning approach for immediate capture and coding of Veteran feedback on satisfaction as called for in the VA Blueprint for Excellence.