United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-01-29 monographic deposited born digital 39 p. GA 1.13:GAO-01-183 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-183 P0b002ee1803a19ee f:d01183 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-183 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-183 GAO-01-183 Veterans benefits Veterans hospitals Standards and standardization Drugs Health services administration Health care services Internal controls VA Veterans Integrated Service Network Letter Report Over the past three years, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made significant progress in establishing its national drug formulary, which has generally met with prescriber acceptance. GAO reported that veterans are generally receiving the drugs they need and that veterans rarely register complaints concerning prescription drugs. VA has not provided sufficient oversight, however, to ensure that the Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN) and medical centers comply with formulary policies and that the flexibility given to them does not unduly compromise VA's goal of formulary standardization. Contrary to VA formulary policy, some facilities omitted national formulary drugs or modified the closed drug classes. While adding a limited number of drugs to supplement the national formulary is permitted, as more drugs are added by VISNs, formulary differences among facilities are likely to become more pronounced, decreasing formulary standardization. While VA recognizes the trade-off between local flexibility and standardization, it lacks criteria for determining the appropriateness of adding drugs to supplement the national formulary and therefore may not be able to determine whether the decrease in standardization is acceptable. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-183/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-183.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-183/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-183.pdf GAO-01-183 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-183 Letter Report GAO-01-183; VA Drug Formulary: Better Oversight Is Required, but; Veterans benefits Veterans hospitals Standards and standardization Drugs Health services administration Health care services Internal controls VA Veterans Integrated Service Network Public Law 106-117 H. Rept. 105-610