United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1995-12-21 monographic deposited born digital 20 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-96-24 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-24 P0b002ee1803a4d7f f:he96024 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-24 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-24 HEHS-96-24 Malpractice (medical) Quality assurance Risk management Internal controls Veterans benefits Patient care services Claims settlement Physicians Veterans hospitals HHS National Practitioner Data Bank Letter Report HEHS

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) malpractice claims, focusing on the: (1) total number of malpractice claims filed against VA between fiscal years (FY) 1990 and 1994; (2) way VA manages its malpractice claims; (3) extent to which malpractice experiences are used in VA quality assurance activities; and (4) volume of non-VA health care malpractice claims.<p/>GAO found that: (1) between FY 1990 and 1994, malpractice claims against VA medical centers (VAMC) increased from 678 to 978 and claimants received over $200 million in payments; (2) in 1992, VA entered into an agreement with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) to analyze malpractice claims on a systemwide basis to identify malpractice trends and risk management issues, but VA is not using the information requested from AFIP to address risk management or quality assurance issues; (3) Department of Defense (DOD) malpractice data can not easily be compared to VA data due to the lack of a standard data collection format; and (4) DOD malpractice data may help VA identify areas in which malpractice claims are being generated, such as surgery-related incidents. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-24/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-24.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-24/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-24.pdf GAO/HEHS-96-24 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-24 Letter Report GAO/HEHS-96-24; VA Health Care: Trends in Malpractice Claims Can Aid in Addressing Quality of Care Problems; Malpractice (medical) Quality assurance Risk management Internal controls Veterans benefits Patient care services Claims settlement Physicians Veterans hospitals HHS National Practitioner Data Bank Title 28 Section 2671-2680 28 U.S.C. 2671-2680