VA Health Care: Allegations Concerning VA's Patient Mortality Study

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed allegations that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) altered the design of a patient mortality study to obtain more favorable results, focusing on: (1) whether the Chief Medical Director or any other VA official attempted to give the appearance that VA had fewer quality assurance problems at its medical centers than actually existed; and (2) the decision to use a 99-percent confidence level to calculate summary hospital mortality data.