• Rebecca Kartje, Brian E Dixon, Ashley L Schwartzkopf, Vivian Guerrero, Kimberly M Judon, Joanne C Yi, and Kenneth Boockvar.
• From the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Indianapolis, IN (RK, BED, ALS, JCY); IU Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indianapolis, IN (BED); Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, IN (BED): James J. Peters VA Medical Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Bronx, NY (VG, KMJ, KB); Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY (KB). rebecca.kartje@va.gov.
• J Am Board Fam Med. 2021 Mar 1; 34 (2): 301-308.

IntroductionUnderstanding how veterans use Veterans Affairs (VA) for primary care and non-VA for acute care can help policy makers predict future health care resource use. We aimed to describe characteristics of veterans enrolled in a multisite clinical trial of non-VA acute event notifications and care coordination and to identify patient factors associated with non-VA acute care.MethodsCharacteristics of 565 veterans enrolled in a prospective cluster randomized trial at the Bronx and Indianapolis VA Medical Centers were obtained by interview and chart review.ResultsVeterans' mean age was 75.8 years old, 98.3% were male, and 39.2% self-identified as a minority race; 81.2% reported receiving the majority of care at the VA. There were 197 (34.9%) veterans for whom a non-VA acute care alert was received. Patient characteristics significantly associated with greater odds of a non-VA alert included older age (OR = 1.05; 95% CI, 1.04-1.05); majority of care received is non-VA (OR = 1.83; 95% CI, 1.06-3.15); private insurance (OR = 1.39; 95% CI, 1.19-1.62); and higher income (OR = 4.01; 95% CI, 2.68-5.98).ConclusionsWe identified several patient-level factors associated with non-VA acute care that can inform the design of VA services and policies for veterans with non-VA acute care encounters and reintegration back into the VA system.© Copyright 2021 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

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