Abstract:There are now 2.1 million women veterans living in the United States, and they are more likely to die from cardiovascular disease (CVD) than women who have never served in the military. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has been actively intensifying its approach to addressing CVD among women, but it is not the only place that must address this issue. In fact, more women veterans receive care outside the VHA than within. Thomas et al recognized the imperative for non-VHA providers to understand CVD risk among women who have served in the military and sought to assess the relevant knowledge of clinical staff in a large, private health care system. They found that 62.7% of staff had poor to moderate knowledge of CVD risk factors unique or more common among women veterans. Potentially more concerning is that they found that only 11% of staff were aware of whether or not their patients were veterans. Awareness of veteran status is particularly important when caring for women who may not promote or acknowledge their service experience due to longstanding cultural biases against women in the military, and unintentional bias may lead providers to assume women patients are not veterans.