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(06/03/2026) St. Louis VA researchers compared nearly 1.5 million Veterans treated for lung cancer to find overall survival rates more than doubled from 2007 to 2019. For Veterans using VA, the three-year survival increased from 24% to 51%, and Veterans using community care showed an increase of 24% to 41%. Non-small cell lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the U.S. but VA’s efforts to increase screening, to catch the cancer early and when it is most treatable, continue to yield positive results. The research team concluded that when lung cancer care is delivered within an integrated, publicly funded system it leads to greater and faster improvements for Veteran survival rates across the entire health care environment. (Journal of the National Cancer Institute , May 21, 2026)