Summary: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made considerable progress in removing barriers that prevent women veterans from receiving care. For example, VA has increased its outreach to women veterans to inform them of their eligibility for health care services and designated women veteran coordinators to help women veterans access VA's health care system. VA has also improved the health care environment at many of its medical facilities, especially with respect to accommodating the privacy needs of women veterans. However, VA recognizes that more work needs to be done in these areas. In addition, in response to women veterans' concerns, VA has begun to assess its capacity to provide inpatient psychiatric care to women veterans. VA's efforts to stress women veterans' health care have significantly increased the availability and use of all services during the past three years. For example, gender-specific services--pap smears, mammograms, and reproductive health care--grew from more than 85,000 to more than 121,000 between 1994 and 1997. During the same period, the number of women veterans treated on an outpatient basis rose by about 32 percent, or 119,300.
