Use of VA Facility and VA-Purchased Behavioral Health Services Among Post-9/11 Veterans With and Without Traumatic Brain Injury.
Diana J Govier, Elizabeth R Hooker, Sarah Shull and 8 others
PMID 41844560WHAT IT FOUND
Most post-9/11 veterans who used behavioral health care used VA facilities only, but reliance was lowest for emergency services.
Veterans with traumatic brain injury used more outpatient services, yet many did not use any behavioral health care.
Key findings
01Of veterans who used behavioral health services, 88.4% used VA facilities only, 1.9% used VA community care only, and 9.7% used both.
02After adjustment, predicted VA facility reliance was highest for outpatient services at 94.7% to 95.0% and lowest for emergency services at 65.9% to 69.3%.
03Among veterans with moderate/severe TBI, a larger share of community services than VA services had PTSD (60.5% vs 48.4%) and substance use disorder (19.6% vs 15.9%) diagnoses.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Some veterans with TBI may have been missed because screening or evaluation results were missing, conflicting, or not completed, and injuries outside deployment were not included. Findings apply only to veterans already engaged in VA care during 2021 and 2022, so they may not represent veterans who do not use VA or care in other years. The study used administrative claims and health record codes, so services outside VA or community care records, income, and some behavioral health visits may have been missed. Because this was observational, it cannot show that TBI caused different service use or that community care is better or worse than VA care.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read higher service use among veterans with traumatic brain injury as proof that their behavioral health needs are met. The study also reports that many veterans with traumatic brain injury did not use any behavioral health services.