In addition, contracts for supplies or other services takes 6 to 9 months to establish. He says that a lot of companies won't even bid on VA contracts because of this. This results in higher costs, with the exception of pharmaceuticals, because the VA has "exerted its marketing clout" in this area." (Mayo, 2006) Oliver (2007) states that "Republicans want still tighter eligibility criteria, re-restricting the VHA entirely to the poor and those with service-related disabilities. Democrats appear to be opposed to greater explicit restrictions on access, but it is important to recognize that the reform process, by perhaps overemphasizing primary care and underemphasizing the hospital sector, has probably led to greater implicit restrictions on access to specialist care in the VHA." Oliver states that the result is that "while the average burden of care has fallen, the need for specialized care has risen." (2007) V. SWOT ANALYSIS

The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the Veterans Health Administration are as follows:

Strengths: Strengths of VHA include the acknowledgement which has been made that process must be improved upon and that performance must necessarily be managed, monitored and enforced.

Weaknesses: Included in weaknesses is the heavy-handed bureaucratic process of the VHA which results in weakening the transformation process described in the foregoing study and further weakens competition for VA contracts due to the very lengthy process of the contracting process, usually lasting between 6 and 9 months in just contracting to provide supplies to the VHA.

Opportunities: Opportunities include the increase in funding...

The political process is always a threat for funding of the VHA to enable process care and access to care for veterans.
SUMMARY and CONCLUSION

The Veterans Health Administration has been proactive in attempting to address its shortcomings in providing quality healthcare to veterans however, due to restrictions placed on the VHA in terms of hospitalized and specialized care, there is a disparity in the access to care for veterans in the VHA processes. Alternative strategy recommendations include review of access policy focused toward equal provision of quality healthcare for all veterans.

Bibliography

Department of Veterans Affairs 2007 Organizational Briefing Book. Office of Human Resources and Administration. Washington, D.C.

History (2008) VA History. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Online available at http://www.va.gov/about_va/vahistory.asp

Mayo, Rachel (2006) Veteran's Health Administration: The Best Value in Healthcare. HS6000.

Mission, Vision, Core Values & Goals (2008) U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Online available at http://www.va.gov/about_va/mission.asp

Oliver, Adam (2007) the Veterans' Health Administration: An American Success Story? The Milbank Quarterly Vol. 85, No.1 2007. Online available at http://www.milbank.org/quarterly/8501feat.html

Performance Summaries by Strategic Objective (2006)…