Improving Transportation Processes for Veterans
Client
United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA Center for innovation)
Faculty
Bob Criscuolo
Team
Elissa Mojtahedi, Andrea Pratt-Anglin, James Sternheim, Stephanie York, Falis Yusuf
| The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides patient care and federal benefits to veterans and their dependents. The VA faces the daily challenge of providing transportation for patients to access healthcare. The current transportation process leads to missed appointments, reduced access to care, increased risk of negative health outcomes, and decreased veteran satisfaction and trust. The VA engaged a Capstone team in investigating strategies to improve its transportation processes. The team conducted market research and an environmental scan of 22 VA transportation sites. The team’s conclusions were threefold: transportation availability impacts healthcare access, insufficient performance measures are captured on patient transportation, and transportation accessibility must be integrated into the clinical process. The team provided a report to the VA that included the conclusions and these additional recommendations: standardize the transportation process across sites, implement the automated system “Vetride,” and consistently collect and report key metrics to measure outcomes and promote continuous improvements. |
Focus Areas
Capstone Year