VA and Defense Health Care: Military Medical Surveillance Policies in Place, but Implementation Challenges Remain

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 2002-02-27 monographic deposited born digital 15 p. GA 1.13:GAO-02-478T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-478T P0b002ee18037348d f:d02478t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-478T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-478T GAO-02-478T Data bases Data integrity Health care services Information resources management Interagency relations Medical information systems Medical records Military personnel Strategic information systems planning Systems compatibility Bosnia Croatia DOD Force Health Protection Program DOD Global Expeditionary Medical System DOD Operation Joint Endeavor DOD Theater Medical Information Program DOD Transportation Command Regulating and Command and Control Evacuation System Testimony A02802 VA and Defense Health Care: Military Medical Surveillance Policies in Place, but Implementation Challenges Remain The Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently established a medical surveillance system to respond to the health care needs of both military personnel and veterans. A medical surveillance system involves the ongoing collection and analysis of uniform information on deployments, environmental health threats, disease monitoring, medical assessments, and medical encounters and its timely dissemination military commanders, medical personnel, and others. GAO and others have reported extensively on weaknesses in DOD's medical surveillance capability and performance during the Gulf War and Operation Joint Endeavor. Investigations into unexplained illnesses of Gulf War veterans disclosed DOD's inability to collect, maintain, and transfer accurate data describing the movement of troops, potential exposures to health risks, and medical incidents during deployment. DOD improved its medical surveillance system under Operation Joint Endeavor, which provided useful information to military commanders and medical personnel. However, a number of problems with this system still exist. DOD has several initiatives under way to improve the reliability of deployment information and to enhance its information technology capabilities. Although its recent policies and reorganization reflect a commitment to establish a comprehensive medical surveillance system, much needs to be done to implement the system. To the extent DOD's medical surveillance capability is realized, VA will be better able to serve veterans and provide backup to DOD in times of war. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-478T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-478T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-478T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-478T.pdf GAO-02-478T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-478T Testimony GAO-02-478T; VA and Defense Health Care: Military Medical Surveillance Policies in Place, but Implementation Challenges Remain; Data bases Data integrity Health care services Information resources management Interagency relations Medical information systems Medical records Military personnel Strategic information systems planning Systems compatibility Bosnia Croatia DOD Force Health Protection Program DOD Global Expeditionary Medical System DOD Operation Joint Endeavor DOD Theater Medical Information Program DOD Transportation Command Regulating and Command and Control Evacuation System