ArticlePsychiatric services (Washington, D.C.)2024
Characteristics of Veterans With Depression Who Use the Veterans Choice Program of the Veterans Health Administration.
Article in Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evaluating Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Utilization Patterns Among Suicide-Risk-Stratified Veterans Diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder.Administration and policy in mental health · 2026Article
- Effects of occupational factors on depression in Chinese veterans: a fsQCA study based on 2022 CFPS data.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Characteristics of Rural Veterans Using VA Video-to-Home Telehealth or Community Care Network for Mental Healthcare.Psychiatric research and clinical practice · 2026Article
- Trends in Bundled Outpatient Behavioral Health Services in VA-Direct Versus VA-Purchased Care.Administration and policy in mental health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe Veterans Choice Program (VCP) of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) allowed eligible veterans to use their benefits with participating providers outside the VHA. The authors aimed to identify characteristics of veterans with depression who used or did not use mental health care through the VCP.
methodsIn this cross-sectional study, the authors analyzed secondary data from the national VHA Corporate Data Warehouse. VHA administrative data were linked with VCP claims to examine characteristics of VCP-eligible veterans with depression. The study sample included 595,943 unique veterans who were enrolled in the VHA before 2013, were eligible for the VCP in 2016, were alive in 2018, and had an assessed Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score or depressive disorder diagnosis documented in the VHA between 2016 and 2018.
resultsVeterans who used the VCP had lower medical comorbidity scores and lived in less socioeconomically disadvantaged counties, compared with veterans who received only VHA care. VCP veterans were also more likely to have a PHQ-9 score assessment and to have higher mean depression scores. Mean counts of annual mental health visits per 1,000 veterans were markedly higher for direct VHA care than for care provided via the VCP. As a percentage of the total counts of visits per 1,000 veterans across the VCP and VHA, residential programs and outpatient procedures were the services that were most frequently delivered through the VCP.
conclusionsBetween 2016 and 2018, the VCP was used primarily to augment mental health care provided by the VHA, rather than to fill a gap in care.
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