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 1999-06-01 monographic deposited born digital 30 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-99-98 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-99-98 P0b002ee18038e50a f:he99098 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-99-98 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-99-98 HEHS-99-98 Health care personnel Performance measures Military personnel Human resources utilization Medical education Human resources training Health services administration Drugs Cost effectiveness analysis Mental health care services DOD Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project DOD Medical Readiness Strategic Plan DOD Military Health Services System Letter Report HEHS Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Military Health System's (MHS) Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project (PDP), focusing on: (1) how PDP graduates have been integrated into MHS; (2) the quality of care they provide to military personnel and beneficiaries; (3) their effect on medical readiness; and (4) comparing the costs of the program graduates to those of other military psychologists and psychiatrists. GAO noted that: (1) the 10 PDP graduates seem to be well integrated at their assigned military treatment facilities; (2) the graduates generally serve in positions of authority, such as clinic or department chiefs; (3) they also treat a variety of mental health patients; prescribe from comprehensive lists of drugs, or formularies, and carry patient caseloads comparable to those of psychiatrists and psychologists at their same hospitals and clinics; (4) also, although several graduates experienced early difficulties being accepted by physicians and others at their assigned locations, the clinical supervisors, providers, and officials GAO spoke with at the graduates' current and prior locations--as well as a panel of mental health clinicians who evaluated each of the graduates--were complimentary about the quality of patient care provided by the graduates; (5) however, granting drug prescribing authority to 10 military psychologists cannot substantially affect the medical readiness of an organization staffed by more than 800 psychiatrists and psychologists; (6) according to military psychiatrists and psychologists GAO talked to, it is unlikely that the graduates' prescribing abilities and knowledge of psychotropic drugs would be needed during wartime because these types of drugs are not generally the treatment of choice in combat; (7) rather, in treating combat stress, the preferred course of treatment is adequate rest, counseling, and a quick return to the front lines; (8) nonetheless, clinic and hospital officials told GAO that the graduates--by reducing the time patients must wait for treatment and by increasing the number of personnel and dependents who can be treated for illnesses requiring psychotropic medications--have enhanced the peacetime readiness of the locations where they are serving; (9) GAO projects that the Department of Defense (DOD) will spend somewhat more on these 10 prescribing psychologists than it would have spent to provide similar services without the prescribing psychologists; and (10) primarily because of their high training costs, GAO estimates that over the course of the PDP graduates' careers, DOD will spend an average of about 7 percent more (or about $9,700 annually) per PDP graduate than it would spend on a mix of psychiatrists and psychologists who would treat patients in the absence of the PDP graduates. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-99-98/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-99-98.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-99-98/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-99-98.pdf GAO/HEHS-99-98 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-99-98 Letter Report GAO/HEHS-99-98; Prescribing Psychologists: DOD Demonstration Participants; Health care personnel Performance measures Military personnel Human resources utilization Medical education Human resources training Health services administration Drugs Cost effectiveness analysis Mental health care services DOD Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project DOD Medical Readiness Strategic Plan DOD Military Health Services System Public Law 100-463 Public Law 104-106