Summary: GAO examined the Veterans Administration's (VA) method for determining operating room requirements in new and replacement hospitals and identified the differences between VA-stated operating room needs and the requirements a GAO surgical work-load model identified.
GAO found that VA is developing an operating room planning model at its Ann Arbor Medical Center that will permit planners to: (1) use independently established utilization rates for each facility, instead of a more efficient agencywide preestablished rate to plan operating room resources and staff; and (2) develop work-load projections to reflect possible changes in planning factors without central office guidance to ensure that projections are consistent, realistic, and in line with current or planned policy. GAO applied its model for determining VA operating room requirements to 24 construction projects and found that VA: (1) is building or plans to build 29 unnecessary operating rooms; (2) could have saved about $5.8 million by applying the GAO model; and (3) could still save about $3.4 million by eliminating 17 unnecessary planned operating rooms.
