Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Week 5 - Final Paper HEALTH CARE PLANNING & EVALUATION HCA -421

Veterans’ Health Administration (VHA)
Name
Institution
Veterans’ Health Administration (VHA)
Introduction
The management of the largest healthcare provider in the United States is a highly exhaustive task requiring comprehensive planning and strategy to ensure the smooth running of its daily operations. The Veterans Affairs health care program consisted of a mere 54 hospitals as of 1930 and has since grown to a highly integrated system boasting of over 171 medical facilities in the United States. The growth of the Veterans Affair medical program into one of the largest healthcare provider in the United States and around the world involves efficient management that is flexible to the changes in its internal and external environments. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has come of age beating all odds to withstand both the external and internal environmental changes within its healthcare structure to becoming one of the most dynamic and effective healthcare providers in the world. Initially operating as large independent healthcare facilities, Veterans Affairs hospitals have undergone a major transition through the VHA’s re-engineering strategy that has equally diversified service delivery to meet the changing demands of both the public and the healthcare industry as a whole. An analysis of the VHA’s strategy reveals some of the strengths, and weakness in the organization’s internal environment as well as the opportunities and threats in its external environment that have a significant impact on the operation of the large network of healthcare systems.
Veterans’ Health Administration’s Background
President Lincoln’s promise of comprehensive care to the veterans of the Civil War, “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan,” translated to the mission of the Veterans Health Administration CITATION Har05 \l 2057 (Harrison, 2005). As of 1930, the Veterans Administration (VA) slightly increased the number of veteran hospitals from 54 to 91 under the leadership of President Herbert Hoover CITATION Har05 \l 2057 (Harrison, 2005). However, a major transition in the VA took place after the World War II due to a large number of veterans in need of medical attention, primary care or otherwise. The number of veteran hospitals at the end of 1950 reached a high of 150 through an emergent wealth of affiliations and partnerships in the medical field with the VA hospitals CITATION Riv02 \l 2057 (Rivers, 2002). The Veterans Administration hospitals partnered with medical schools to facilitate the achievement of some of the organization’s objectives extending from its mission of providing quality care to the veterans and their affiliate beneficiaries. The partnerships with institutions such as the Northwestern University’s Medical School of Illinois served to facilitate the training of the healthcare workers as well as encouraging further research in medical care, which would improve service delivery at the VA hospitals. The formation of the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989 oversaw the transition of the hospitals into an effective health care system providing quality care through a wide range of services CITATION...