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 2001-04-25 monographic deposited born digital 10 p. GA 1.13:GAO-01-661T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-661T P0b002ee18037a2a9 f:d01661t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-661T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-661T GAO-01-661T Budget outlays Future budget projections Health care services Infectious diseases Veterans Veterans benefits VA Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation System Testimony A00897 In fiscal year 2000, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) requested and received $195 million for Hepatitis C screening and treatment. VA's budget documentation showed that it had spent $100 million on Hepatitis C screening and treatment, leaving a difference of $95 million between its estimated expenditures and its actual expenditures. However, GAO's review of VA's documentation revealed that the difference was much larger--$145 million. VA's documentation showed that only $50 million was used for budgeted activities and $50 million was used for an activity not included in its original budget--treatment of conditions related to Hepatitis C. It appears, at this time, that VA is unable to develop a budget estimate that can reliably forecast Hepatitis C funding needs. However, VA's Veterans Health Administration (VHA) appears to be taking reasonable steps to improve future budget estimates and thereby minimize the potential for large differences. Such steps include developing a Hepatitis C patient registry that could provide the critical data needed to improve budgetary estimates. However, this registry could take as long as 15 months to become operational, which suggests that it may not provide budgetary data in time to formulate the 2004 budget. In the meantime, VHA's ongoing efforts to upgrade its data collection systems should help improve budget estimates for fiscal year 2002. These efforts, however, have provided only minimal help in the development of VA's 2002 budget for Hepatitis C spending. As a result, it is not possible to conclude with certainty whether VA's fiscal year 2002 spending estimate of $171 million is appropriate. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-661T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-661T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-661T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-661T.pdf GAO-01-661T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-661T Testimony GAO-01-661T; Veterans' Health Care: Observations on VA's Assessment of Hepatitis C Budgeting and Funding; Budget outlays Future budget projections Health care services Infectious diseases Veterans Veterans benefits VA Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation System