ALTOONA — The James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center has received the 2025 Veterans Health Administration Customer Experience Award for Best Patient Experience Overall, a national honor recognizing the Altoona facility’s service to veterans.

The award recognizes medical centers that demonstrate excellence in patient care and customer service for veterans, families, caregivers and survivors. Altoona was selected based on performance in areas including patient trust, communication, access to care, emotional support, care coordination and overall satisfaction.

“This is a humbling acknowledgment of our team’s continued commitment to putting veterans first,” Executive Director Derek Coughenour said. “It is a testament to our unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional patient experiences, fostering trust, and providing high-quality, veteran-centered care.”

The recognition marks the third time in five years the Altoona VA has been honored through the VHA Customer Experience Awards program. The facility also received Best Experience Awards in 2020 and 2023 for facilities classified as VHA Complexity Level 3.

According to the VHA, Altoona earned the top overall ranking through sustained performance and improvement efforts aimed at meeting the needs of veterans and their families.

The medical center scored highly in several key measures, including the Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients patient-centered medical home provider rating, inpatient hospital ratings, VSignals trust scores and employee survey indicators.

Patient experience measures carry significant weight in federal quality ratings, accounting for 22% of the overall Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services star rating system. The Altoona facility also holds a five-star CMS quality rating for patient experience.

VHA officials said the award reflects the medical center’s efforts to create an environment where veterans feel valued, respected and confident in the care they receive.

Veterans interested in enrolling for VA health care services can visit VA.gov or call 877-222-VETS (8387) for more information.