B. Josea Kramer ^1*, Mingming Wang ², Tuyen Hoang ², Judith O. Harker ³, Bruce Finke ⁴, Debra Saliba ⁵

¹ VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center; UCLA
² VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Center for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior
³ VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center
⁴ Indian Health Service, Elder Care Initiative
⁵ VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Center for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior; UCLA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: josea.kramer{at}med.va.gov.

	Abstract

We sought to determine the extent to which the Indian Health Service (IHS) identified enrollees who also use the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) as veterans. We used a bivariate analysis of administrative data from fiscal years 2002-2003 to study the target population. Of the 32259 IHS enrollees who received care as veterans in the VHA, only 44% were identified by IHS as veterans. IHS data underestimates the number of veterans, and both IHS and VHA need mechanisms to recognize mutual beneficiaries in order to facilitate better coordination of strategic planning and resource sharing among federal health care agencies.

Key Words: Access to Care, Native Americans