In response to the Department of Labor's Home Care Rule—which extended Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime protections to more home care workers—some states made changes in their Medicaid programs, according to studies and GAO interviews with stakeholders and selected state officials. Many stakeholders said the rule led some states to limit home care workers' hours in th

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) established an appointment scheduling process for the Veterans Community Care Program (VCCP) that allows up to 19 days to complete several steps from VA providers creating a referral to community care staff reviewing that referral. However, VA has not specified the maximum amount of time veterans should have to wait to receive care through the program. GAO

Through the Veterans Choice Program (Choice Program), eligible veterans may receive care from community providers when it is not readily accessible at Veterans' Health Administration (VHA) medical facilities. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses two contractors--or third party administrators (TPA)--to schedule most veterans' Choice Program appointments after receiving referrals from VA me

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) provided limited guidance to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers (VAMC) on the governance of its patient advocacy program and its guidance, a program handbook, has been outdated since 2010. VAMCs are still expected to follow the outdated handbook, which does not provide needed details on governance, such as specifying the VAMC department to

In an effort to reduce the prevalence of opioid misuse and the fatalities associated with it, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established a goal to expand access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT). MAT is an approach that combines behavioral therapy and the use of certain medications, such as methadone and buprenorphine. HHS has implemented five key efforts since 2015 that f

GAO identified 16 public or nonprofit programs that promote the safe storage of firearms on the national and local levels. These programs primarily involved education efforts through media campaigns and partnerships in the community. For example, the Bulletproof Kids program provides safe storage information to parents and assists pediatricians in discussing firearm safety with patients. Addition

Under the Veterans Choice Program (Choice Program), veterans may receive care from non-Veterans Health Administration (VHA) health care providers when timely care from VHA providers is not available or readily accessible. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses two contractors--or third party administrators (TPA)--to administer the program. Among other things, the TPAs schedule most veterans

GAO found that two areas accounted for the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) fiscal year 2015 projected funding gap of $2.75 billion. (1) Higher-than-expected obligations for VA's longstanding care in the community (CIC) programs--which allow veterans to obtain care from non-VA providers--accounted for $2.34 billion or 85 percent of VA's projected funding gap. VA officials expected that the Ve

Eligibility and benefits for Medicaid and the state Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in five U.S. territories--American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands--differ from one another and from the states, generally reflecting the territories' unique circumstances. For example, Guam is the only territory that covers all

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) monitoring of the consumer governed, nonprofit health insurance issuers--known as consumer operated and oriented plans (CO-OPs)--evolved as the CO-OP program matured, and as 12 of the 23 CO-OPs ceased operations on or before January 1, 2016. CMS's initial monitoring activities, starting when it began to award CO-OP program loans in early 2012, f