The quality of supportive cancer care in the veterans affairs health system and targets for improvement.

Importance: Characterizing the quality of supportive cancer care can guide quality improvement.

Objective: To evaluate nonhospice supportive cancer care comprehensively in a national sample of veterans.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Using a retrospective cohort study design, we measured evidence-based cancer care processes using previously validated indicators of care quality in patients with advanced cancer, addressing pain, nonpain symptoms, and information and care planning among 719 veterans with a 2008 Veterans Affairs Central Cancer Registry diagnosis of stage IV colorectal (37.