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Recent updates

From time to time Access to Care is updated in response to feedback from Veterans, changes in the law, internal and industry changes to the reported metrics, input from Congress and new VA priorities. Highlights on recent changes are provided below.

  • 06/2025
    • What changed? A video has been added on viewing measures. Companion text for dates now states, "Data are refreshed on different schedules, but at least annually." If a facility does not have available measures, a message is displayed and a link is provided to that facility in Find VA Locations. A button has been added to print the page of measures.
    • Why did this change occur? Improvements were made to help clarify measure details and complement the downloadable measure sets. Other enhancements were made to increase readability.
  • 03/2025

    Access and Quality Information

    • What changed? When searching for facilities, small icons are now displayed indicating the type of data available for each facility (effective care, safe care, Veteran-centered care, and wait times). Each facility now displays a "Select" button which adds up to 3 facilities to the compare dashboard. The 3-site comparison feature allows filtering to quickly find information, sorting by measure and results, and toggles to switch between views of data.
    • Why did this change occur? The 3-site comparison feature makes it possible to compare local options (for example, a VA medical center and clinics in the same city) or facilities anywhere in the VHA health care system (for example, VA medical centers in different states).
  • 01/2025

    Provider Information

    • What changed? Provider Information has an improved interface to locate providers, and information about this resource has been updated.
    • Why did this change occur? The new interface replaced a location-based interface that could result in empty search results.

    Access and Quality Information

    • What changed? When searching for a facility, the city and state of each facility is displayed. A small icon is displayed beside VA Medical Centers to distinguish them from community-based outpatient clinics. Once a facility has been selected, the list of measures is displayed. The default view is now all measures, which can be adjusted using the filter list. Each domain displays a bar chart to show how many measures are better, same or worse when compared to community benchmarks. Additionally, icons have been added to easily identify which measures are better, same or worse. Within each domain, directional arrows have been added by column headers for easier sorting.
    • Why did this change occur? Updated were made in response to Veteran feedback.

    COVID-19 National Summary

    • What changed? The COVID-19 National Summary now includes information on COVID-19, Influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). The new report title is Seasonal Disease Review.
    • Why did this change occur? These updates will better inform Veterans and the public. Influenza and RSV were added because they impact Veterans’ health, depending on immunity. Reports now reflect counts for seasonal cases rather than lifetime cases. For example, a patient can be counted once a season but multiple times over the course of a lifetime.

    Nursing Home Information

    • What changed? Nursing Home Information are now Excel format, and downloads include measures, when available.
    • Why did this change occur? Previous CSV versions of the nursing home downloads did not include measures. The Excel format allows for more information.
  • 06/2024
    • What changed? The multiple quality datasets and metrics shown on earlier versions of the website have been consolidated into one view under Access and Quality Information. This makes it much easier for Veterans and the public to see how VA facilities are performing on key quality measures. New metrics groupings and filters have been added so Veterans and caregivers can narrow down their search to areas of interest to them. Information on same day services was removed pending verification. The navigation bar at the top of the website page has also been streamlined to make it easier for Veterans and caregivers to find the information they need.
    • Why did this change occur? Over time, multiple quality datasets have been added to the Access to Care (ATC) website to meet evolving legal requirements, and Veteran and VA priorities. Further, as VA has added more quality measures to the public Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Care Compare site, there has been some duplication of measures across these two sites. This made it much harder for Veterans and caregivers to quickly find quality information about their VA Medical Center. So, all the quality metrics were reviewed and updated as needed, then grouped under Access and Quality Information. Filters now allow the user to focus on areas that are most relevant to them. Where possible, duplicate measures were removed and Veterans were provided with more detailed information on how to see the VA quality measures on the CMS Care Compare site. All these changes have been made based on detailed feedback from Veterans and other stakeholders regarding what they need and want from the ATC website.
  • 10/2023
    • What changed? The Patient Experience Compare dataset was removed.
    • Why did this change occur? This dataset is included in the MISSION Act Quality Standards dataset.
    • What changed? The Outpatient Compare Data dataset was removed.
    • Why did this change occur? This dataset is included in the MISSION Act Quality Standards dataset.
  • 08/2023
    • What changed? The Care Compare button on the More Data page takes visitors to an information page on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service's (CMS) Care Compare site and VA's quality information available on Care Compare. The page includes a video and frequently asked questions on CMS Care Compare.
    • Why did this change occur? The new information page provides an overview of Care Compare and why Veterans and caregivers should check out the VA quality information shared on the site. This information will enhance the experience of those who use both the Access to Care and Care Compare sites.
  • 08/2023
    • What changed? Auto-complete functionality has been added to location search boxes. On the Provider Information page, the default radius for searches is now 250 miles.
    • Why did this change occur? Auto-complete provides improved accuracy in finding city/state combinations and lets visitors use a specific street address, if desired.
  • 08/2023
    • What changed? The Nursing Home Compare Data page description and measure layout have been updated. MISSION Act Quality measures are now indicated by an asterisk (*).
    • Why did this change occur? General improvements to help clarify measure details.
  • 06/2023
    • What changed? New pages were added: About, Recent updates, More data and Access to Care videos. The Home page was also refreshed. Memorialization and the COVID-19 National Summary were moved to the More Data page. The menu options were adjusted to reflect the new pages. Find Providers was renamed Provider Information.
    • Why did this change occur? Updates were made in response to Veteran feedback about the site.
  • 12/2022
    • What changed? The VA Overall page was removed.
    • Why did this change occur? The content on the page was no longer current and unable to be updated. Additionally, the format of the information was difficult for some Veterans to read.
  • 11/2022
    • What changed? Links to survey information were removed from Nursing Home Compare displays.
    • Why did this change occur? The VA Office of General Counsel determined that the surveys contained descriptions of incidents at community living centers that may lead to identification of Veterans and staff which are protected under health care privacy laws.
  • 07/2022
    • What changed? A new Facility Performance page was added to make it easier for visitors to find facilities and view comprehensive data about selected facilities. Additional specialty clinics were added to the list of wait times for VA medical centers and community based outpatient clinics. Patient satisfaction data were also added.
    • Why did this change occur? The Office of Integrated Veterans Care updated how wait time were calculated. Based on Veteran feedback received, new data were included.
  • 07/2022
    • What changed? The home page was redesigned in response to Veteran feedback about the site.
    • Why did this change occur? Design enhancements.