WASHINGTON — The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Thursday approved a measure to improve health care for female veterans.

"Planning for the wave of new women veterans is going to be a difficult and complex task, but this bill gets us on the right track," the measure's sponsor, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., told the committee.

The bill, among other things, would authorize programs to improve care for victims of military sexual trauma, require new studies of the problems women face when seeking treatment at the Department of Veterans Affairs and expand staff and training for those who serve women at the VA. » read more

WASHINGTON — The McClatchy Washington Bureau was named this week as a winner of the National Institute for Health Care Management's annual awards for excellence in journalism.

The NIHCM Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that conducts research on health care issues, recognizes outstanding work in health care research, broadcast journalism and print journalism.

McClatchy National Correspondent Chris Adams was named winner in the general circulation print category for stories on veterans' health, which included a February 2007 story on gaps in the Department of Veterans Affairs mental health care system and a May 2007 story on the VA's tendency to exaggerate the record of its medical system. » read more