IS THE VA PROPERLY SERVING THE VETERANS OF THE APPALACHIAN REGION?

Abstract

In this paper we use a simple Differences in Differences method to compare Veterans Administration (VA) hospital outpatient usage between the Appalachian Region and the rest of the United States. This will be done using data before the community care started growing and after the temporary law was implemented in 2014. What we show is that the rest of the country slowed its growth in dependence on the VA after the passing of the law. While the Appalachian region continued to rely on the VA for the majority of its usage. Showing that the Appalachian region is being under served by community care, possibly due to a lack of alternatives. Our findings however, are not statistically significant.

Keywords: Appalachia, Veterans Affairs, Hospital Usage

Purpose: This paper was started to determine the effective usage of the Veterans Affairs Hospitals and whether or not they are serving veterans of the Appalachian region.