Taken from the Veterans Health Administration Highlights dated August 24, 2001

VHA Scores Highest in Patient Satisfaction Ratings

VHA achieved a satisfaction ranking for acute medical services that far exceeded private sector hospitals and other government service ratings according to the 2001 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) ranking announced on August 21. · VA hospitals: achieved a satisfaction rating of 82.0, compared to the 71.2 for the private sector and 68.6 for the Federal Government-wide score. · VA pharmacy services: achieved a satisfaction rating of 83.0, or 12 points higher than the comparable private sector rating of 71.2, and 14.4 points higher than the federal government-wide score of 68.0. The ACSI index is recognized for its coverage of 164 companies in satisfying their customers. Two years ago, it was adapted to include 30 federal agencies that deal with 90 percent of the federal government’s public customers. The ACSI index is produced through a university, management consulting firm and the American Society for Quality partnership. It issues numerical rankings of companies, agencies and economic sectors on a 100-point scale, based on more than 50,000 interviews annually. An ACSI score above 80 is considered very good.