The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) manages the largest healthcare system under a single management structure in the United States. Providing access to high quality healthcare to the VA's nearly 9 million enrollees is a mission priority for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the arm of the VA that oversees all medical facilities and operations. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools enable analysts to construct data-driven recommendations to policy makers for providing the best and most timely healthcare to those individuals who have honorably served their country. This paper illustrates how GIS is being used by the VHA and provides the example of acute stroke care access for Veterans in one Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) within the VHA.

Objective To develop and use planning maps to prioritize and facilitate county‐level recruitment for Together With Veterans (TWV), community‐based rural Veteran suicide prevention program. Method Choropleth maps were created for 49 U.S. states, with four mutually exclusive categories indicating eligibility for the TWV program and increasing levels of need assigned to each county based on (a) percent Veterans Health Administration enrollees residing in rural communities, (b) percent population that are Veterans, and (c) crude suicide mortality rate. Results Of 3113 counties, 78.2% were eligible for TWV and 25.8% met our highest priority definition. A national map and state map were provided to demonstrate final products used to engage stakeholders. A table of recommendations for creating and using planning maps was provided for future projects to reference. Conclusions Geographic information system (GIS) is useful for identifying and prioritizing counties that may benefit most from a rural Veteran suicide prevention program. Choropleth maps allow for dissemination of information about county suicide risk and need for suicide prevention to community members, researchers, and others with a vested interest in suicide reduction. The maps are one tool among many which can support decision‐makers in focusing available resources on populations with the most need.

Objective: To understand the sociodemographic, geographical, and clinical characteristics of rural veterans utilizing home modification (HM) healthcare services under the Home Improvement Structural Alterations (HISA) program, to compare these characteristics between rural and urban veteran users, to estimate the costs of HMs performed, and to present distance that users traveled to HISA-prescribing medical facilities within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Background: Accessible housing is in short supply. HMs allow veterans with disabilities (VWDs) to remain living at home rather than enter institutional-type settings. HISA is associated with decreased inpatient hospitalization rates and increased use of preventative healthcare via outpatient clinic visits. Home accessibility provides psychological benefits improving social interactions and interaction with the physical environment. Methods: This retrospective database study analyzes data from the National Prosthetics Patient Database and other medical datasets within the VHA. Results: Results provide a profile of and comparison between rural and urban veteran users. HISA users are substantially older compared to younger VWDs. The frequency of bathroom, railing, and wooden ramp HMs differed significantly between rural and urban users ( p values < .001). Rural users traveled more miles than urban users to reach a prescribing facility. Conclusions: Older adults and individuals with disabilities have unmet housing needs since accessible housing is in short supply. This HM healthcare service is helping to meet the housing accessibility needs of older veterans, VWDs, older adults, and people with disabilities, in general.