Once denigrated for shoddy care and antiquated systems, the VA health system has become a hallmark of excellence and technical innovation. Best Care Anywhere uses the VA turnaround to illustrate deeper lessons for the U.S. health care system. In particular, it shows how fee-for-service healthcare leads to more expensive, less comprehensive, and less effective healthcare. Takeaway: efficient electronic medical records are the secret key to better health outcomes.

New to this edition is a particular focus on the trials and tribulations of "Obamacare," the Ryan proposal, and the fiscal crisis. It also includes new success stories of "exporting" the VA VistA system in West Virginia and Texas as well as completely updated statistics and research, including 2011 cancer studies by Harvard University that prove VA cancer patients outlive cancer patients in traditional healthcare.