Applying diagnostic cost groups to examine the disease burden of VA facilities: comparing the six "Evaluating VA Costs" study sites with other VA sites and Medicare.

Objectives: To compare the disease burden of Veterans Health Administration (VA) patients at six study sites with all other VA patients and the Medicare population.

Design: A 60% random sample of all VA veteran patients during federal fiscal year 1997 was obtained from administrative databases. A split-sample technique provided a 40% sample (n = 1,046,803) for development and a 20% sample (n = 524,461) for validation.