Key Issues > VA and DOD Health Care Collaboration
VA and DOD Health Care Collaboration
Increasingly, VA and DOD have undertaken collaborative initiatives to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the departments' health care services for servicemembers and veterans.
As operators of two of this nation's largest healthcare systems, DOD and VA are attempting—through collaborative initiatives—to improve access, quality, and cost-effectiveness of care, while also reducing duplication between programs. However, a number of barriers hinder the departments' collaborative efforts. GAO has reported that:
- VA and DOD face barriers that hinder progress at collaboration sites—locations where the two departments share health care resources—including the lack of performance information that could help decision makers assess overall progress to achieve goals relating to health care access, quality, and cost effectiveness.
- VA's and DOD's most fully integrated collaboration project—the joint Federal Health Care Center (FHCC) in Chicago—faces notable problems , including costly delays in IT implementation, and the lack of a comprehensive evaluation plan for assessing if the FHCC produces sufficient benefits in relation to its costs, a finding that may determine whether the FHCC should serve as a model for future collaboration efforts.
- To address fragmentation and duplication in its efforts to provide health care case management and care coordination services for recovering servicemembers and veterans, VA and DOD are developing policies and procedures through a collaborative, interagency strategy. For additional information, see the discussion of the VA/DOD Joint Executive Council role on this issue, as found in the key issue page Continuity of Health Care from DOD to VA.
For more on GAO's reports and recommendations, see the key reports tab above.
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Recovering Servicemembers and Veterans: Sustained Leadership Attention and Systematic Oversight Needed to Resolve Persistent Problems Affecting Care and Benefits
GAO-13-5: Published: Nov 16, 2012. Publicly Released: Nov 16, 2012.
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-13-5
GAO-13-5: Published: Nov 16, 2012. Publicly Released: Nov 16, 2012.
VA and DOD Health Care: Department-Level Actions Needed to Assess Collaboration Performance, Address Barriers, and Identify Opportunities
GAO-12-992: Published: Sep 28, 2012. Publicly Released: Sep 28, 2012.
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-12-992
GAO-12-992: Published: Sep 28, 2012. Publicly Released: Sep 28, 2012.
VA/DOD Federal Health Care Center: Costly Information Technology Delays Continue and Evaluation Plan Lacking
GAO-12-669: Published: Jun 26, 2012. Publicly Released: Jun 26, 2012.
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-12-669
GAO-12-669: Published: Jun 26, 2012. Publicly Released: Jun 26, 2012.
VA and DOD Health Care: First Federal Health Care Center Established, but Implementation Concerns Need to Be Addressed
GAO-11-570: Published: Jul 19, 2011. Publicly Released: Jul 19, 2011.
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-11-570
GAO-11-570: Published: Jul 19, 2011. Publicly Released: Jul 19, 2011.
More Reports
DOD and VA Health Care: Medication Needs during Transitions May Not Be Managed for All Servicemembers
GAO-13-26: Published: Nov 2, 2012. Publicly Released: Nov 14, 2012.
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-13-26
GAO-13-26: Published: Nov 2, 2012. Publicly Released: Nov 14, 2012.
VA Mental Health: Number of Veterans Receiving Care, Barriers Faced, and Efforts to Increase Access
GAO-12-12: Published: Oct 14, 2011. Publicly Released: Oct 14, 2011.
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-12-12
GAO-12-12: Published: Oct 14, 2011. Publicly Released: Oct 14, 2011.
DOD and VA Health Care: Action Needed to Strengthen Integration across Care Coordination and Case Management Programs
GAO-12-129T: Published: Oct 6, 2011. Publicly Released: Oct 6, 2011.
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-12-129T
GAO-12-129T: Published: Oct 6, 2011. Publicly Released: Oct 6, 2011.
Federal Recovery Coordination Program: Enrollment, Staffing, and Care Coordination Pose Significant Challenges
GAO-11-572T: Published: May 13, 2011. Publicly Released: May 13, 2011.
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-11-572T
GAO-11-572T: Published: May 13, 2011. Publicly Released: May 13, 2011.
DOD and VA Health Care: Federal Recovery Coordination Program Continues to Expand but Faces Significant Challenges
GAO-11-250: Published: Mar 23, 2011. Publicly Released: Mar 23, 2011.
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-11-250
GAO-11-250: Published: Mar 23, 2011. Publicly Released: Mar 23, 2011.
Electronic Health Records: DOD and VA Should Remove Barriers and Improve Efforts to Meet Their Common System Needs
GAO-11-265: Published: Feb 2, 2011. Publicly Released: Feb 2, 2011.
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-11-265
GAO-11-265: Published: Feb 2, 2011. Publicly Released: Feb 2, 2011.
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