Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) nursing home planning process.
GAO found that: (1) VA based its bed-supply goal on the assumption that the proportion of veterans in all nursing homes that VA would support approximated its historical share; (2) VA used the most current data available on the number of veterans expected to use nursing homes in fiscal year (FY) 2000; (3) VA plans to provide 47,000 nursing home beds by FY 2000, an increase of 14,000 beds over the FY 1988 operating level; (4) VA plans to provide about half of the 14,000 beds in community and state veterans' homes; (5) VA plans to construct about 5,000 new beds, at a cost of $405 million, and convert 2,000 VA hospital beds to nursing home use, at a cost of $105 million; (6) VA might not need to add 7,000 new nursing home beds; (7) the VA planning process lacked guidance to ensure that VA accurately identified available beds used; (8) the potential for converting VA hospital beds to nursing home use increased because of a decrease in the number of VA hospital beds used; and (9) VA could convert hospital beds to nursing home care in less time and at half the cost of new construction.
