Quality in the Veterans Health Administration: Lessons from the People Who Changed the System

Transforming the VHA

?Courage, compassion, insight, and success--the story behind and about pivotal changes in one of America's great health care systems. Every potential patient (and that's all of us) should understand the issues that Galen Barbour addresses. There are clear implications for the entirety of American health care.?--Alfred S. Buck, executive vice president of performance measures and research, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

GALEN L. BARBOUR M.D., is the director of planning, education, and performance improvement at the Washington, D.C., VA medical center and clinical professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at The George Washington University School of Medicine. LARRY MALBY is the national total quality improvement (TQI) coordinator for the Veterans Health Administration. RICHARD R. LUSSIER is deputy director at The VHA's Long Beach regional medical education center. R. W. THOMALE JR. is the chief of acquisitions and materiel management at the Dallas VHA medical center. JUDITH A. LERNER is a program manager at The VHA's Long Beach regional medical education center.