Summary: GAO reviewed the Veterans Administration's (VA) domiciliaries to determine whether they: (1) enforced VA financial eligibility criteria for domiciliary care; (2) performed and documented required physical examinations; and (3) developed individual treatment plans for eligible veterans.
GAO found that: (1) 29 percent of the veterans at the domiciliaries it reviewed exceeded the monthly income limit, and domiciliary officials stated that they rarely rejected needy veterans for care, regardless of income; (2) neither VA nor Congress has raised the income limit since 1980, despite radical increases in the costs of living and medical care; (3) when Congress revised eligibility criteria for other VA programs, it did not do so for the domiciliary program; (4) VA did not perform required physical examinations on about 13 percent of the veterans at domiciliaries it reviewed; (5) VA did not develop therapeutic treatment plans for about 22 percent of the veterans; and (6) VA officials stated that VA performed examinations but did not document them, which could restrict VA ability to ensure the quality of care.
