75 Years of the Historic Partnership Between the VA and Academic Medical Centers.

Background: The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) conducts the largest health professions education program in the country in partnership with academic medical, nursing, and associated health programs across the nation. After World War II, the VA was pressed to meet the increasing population of veterans needing health care and faced challenges in recruiting clinicians.

Observations: The passage of 2 legislative actions, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act and Public Law 79-293, and a key policy memorandum set the foundation for the partnership between the VA and academic medical centers that led to improved medical care for veterans and expansion of health professions education for the VA and the nation.

Conclusions: Since passage of these actions, the VA-academic health professions education partnership has grown to involve 113,000 trainees rotating through 150 VA medical centers annually from more than 1400 colleges and universities.