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VA Health Care: Use of Private Providers Should Be Better Controlled

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Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date Sept. 28, 1992
Report No. HRD-92-109
Subject
Summary:

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) continues to grapple with soaring medical costs. In fiscal year 1990, the agency spent about $112 million for outpatient medical care purchased from private health care providers on a fee-for-service basis. GAO found that VA is not adequately controlling medical centers' purchases of private outpatient medical care for veterans. Centers may turn to private providers only if the needed care is unavailable at the VA center or private providers are less expensive due to geography. VA, however, has not issued clear guidance to medical centers on how this requirement should be implemented. As a result, the cost-effectiveness of private care has not been evaluated, and centers may be needlessly buying millions of dollars of medical care from private providers when the care could be more economically delivered in VA facilities.

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