Military Hospitals Need Stronger Guidance on Presidential, VIP, and Officer Accommodations

In a 1974 report, GAO recommended that the Department of Defense (DOD) establish criteria for setting up and furnishing Presidential and other very important person (VIP) accommodations in military hospitals, and instruct the military departments to cease the segregation of officers and enlisted personnel in existing hospitals and planned facilities. General care nursing units in new hospitals will be one-bed, two-bed, or four-bed rooms; however, facilities planned before 1973, when these criteria were adopted, sometimes contain open bays with more than one bed. Persons eligible for free or very inexpensive health care at military medical facilities include the President and his family, active duty and retired members of the military and their dependents, retired enlisted members, and dependents of deceased members.