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 1998-08-28 monographic deposited born digital 63 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-98-226 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-98-226 P0b002ee18039a1ef f:he98226 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-98-226 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-98-226 HEHS-98-226 Health resources utilization Veterans hospitals Veterans benefits Veterans Health care cost control Health care programs Health services administration Patient care services Federal agency reorganization VA Veterans Integrated Service Network VA Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation System VA Ambulatory Care Patient Satisfaction Survey Chapter Report HEHS Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the: (1) changes in overall access to care, changes in access to certain specialized services, and a comparison of changes in Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 3 (Bronx) and VISN 4 (Pittsburgh) with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) national data from fiscal years (FY) 1995 to 1997; (2) extent to which VA headquarters and VISNs are working to equitably allocate resources to facilities within VISNs; and (3) adequacy of VA's oversight of changes in access to care.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) overall, VISN 3, VISN 4, and VA nationally have increased access as measured by increases in the number of veterans served; (2) access to care, as measured by patient satisfaction, also seems to have improved according to responses to VA surveys and interviews GAO conducted; (3) in addition, VA has improved geographic access to primary care by increasing the number of community-based clinics in these two VISNs; (4) although access has increased overall, access appears to have decreased for some specific services; (5) the two VISNs GAO reviewed used no specific criteria for allocating their resources to reduce historical access inequities among their facilities; (6) VA headquarters neither provides criteria for VISNs to use to equitably allocate resources nor reviews the allocations for equity; (7) although VA has made progress in improving the equity of resource allocations nationwide among the networks, it has done little to ensure that the networks fulfill the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) system's promise as they allocate resources to their facilities; (8) although GAO prepared an overall assessment of access to care, difficulties in working with the data cast doubt on whether VA can perform timely and effective oversight; (9) the information GAO developed on changes in access to care at the facility and network levels for VISN 3 and VISN 4, as well as for VA nationally, was gathered from many VA reports and databases--some of which had inconsistent or incompatible information that GAO was able to resolve; (10) moreover, medical center, VISN, and headquarters officials told GAO that such data are not available on a routine, timely basis; (11) without such information, it is difficult for them to say conclusively whether VA has improved veterans' equity of access to care and whether veterans have not been adversely affected by the many changes under way to reduce costs and improve productivity; (12) by taking several actions, VA could improve its oversight of changes in access to care and its resource allocation process; and (13) these actions include improving data collection and dissemination efforts regarding changes in access to care and establishing criteria for VISNs to use for more equitably allocating resources to their facilities. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-98-226/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-98-226.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-98-226/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-98-226.pdf GAO/HEHS-98-226 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-98-226 Chapter Report GAO/HEHS-98-226; VA Health Care: More Veterans Are Being Served, But Better Oversight Is Needed; Health resources utilization Veterans hospitals Veterans benefits Veterans Health care cost control Health care programs Health services administration Patient care services Federal agency reorganization VA Veterans Integrated Service Network VA Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation System VA Ambulatory Care Patient Satisfaction Survey Public Law 104-204 Public Law 104-262 Public Law 105-65 Conf. Rept. 105-297