WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs rivals other health care systems in the quality of care
it provides to mentally ill veterans, but there are huge discrepancies in
the level of care offered in various facilities across the country,
according to a new study.
Investigators with RAND Corporation, a non-profit research
organization, also noted that mental health services for veterans don’t
come cheap, costing more than $12 billion in 2007 alone.
“While the VA does a better job at providing mental health services
than other health care systems, there is still substantial room for
improvement,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Katherine Watkins, a senior
natural scientist with RAND, said in a news release from the corporation.
“With some changes, the VA could provide even better and more
cost-effective care for the nation’s veterans, as well as serve as a model
for other health care systems.”
In examining the array of services provided to mentally ill veterans as
well as differences in the level of care across the United States, the
researchers analyzed information on veterans treated for at least one of
five different mental illnesses (schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder,
post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression and substance-use
