Medical care
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Some of the nation's 26 million veterans have two government-financed health care entitlements: Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The aims of this investigation were to examine trends where Medicare-eligible VA users are initially hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and then to assess rates of cardiac procedure use and mortality for veterans initially admitted to each system of care. ⋯ Medicare-eligible VA users are increasingly hospitalized in Medicare hospitals for AMI. VA users cared for in Medicare hospitals receive more cardiac procedures but have the same survival as VA users cared for in VAMCs. These findings have policy implications for access, quality, and costs in both systems of care.