Key Issues > VA and DOD Health Care Collaboration
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VA and DOD Health Care Collaboration

Increasingly, VA and DOD have undertaken collaborative initiatives to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the departments’ healthcare services for servicemembers and veterans.

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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.
Looking for our recommendations? Click on any report to find each associated recommendation and its current implementation status.

Recovering Servicemembers and Veterans

Sustained Leadership Attention and Systematic Oversight Needed to Resolve Persistent Problems Affecting Care and Benefits
GAO-13-5, Nov 16, 2012

VA and DOD Health Care

Department-Level Actions Needed to Assess Collaboration Performance, Address Barriers, and Identify Opportunities
GAO-12-992, Sep 28, 2012

VA/DOD Federal Health Care Center

Costly Information Technology Delays Continue and Evaluation Plan Lacking
GAO-12-669, Jun 26, 2012

VA and DOD Health Care

First Federal Health Care Center Established, but Implementation Concerns Need to Be Addressed
GAO-11-570, Jul 19, 2011

More Reports

DOD and VA Health Care

Medication Needs during Transitions May Not Be Managed for All Servicemembers
GAO-13-26, Nov 2, 2012

VA Mental Health

Number of Veterans Receiving Care, Barriers Faced, and Efforts to Increase Access
GAO-12-12, Oct 14, 2011

DOD and VA Health Care

Action Needed to Strengthen Integration across Care Coordination and Case Management Programs
GAO-12-129T, Oct 6, 2011

Federal Recovery Coordination Program

Enrollment, Staffing, and Care Coordination Pose Significant Challenges
GAO-11-572T, May 13, 2011

DOD and VA Health Care

Federal Recovery Coordination Program Continues to Expand but Faces Significant Challenges
GAO-11-250, Mar 23, 2011

Electronic Health Records

DOD and VA Should Remove Barriers and Improve Efforts to Meet Their Common System Needs
GAO-11-265, Feb 2, 2011
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