Summary: Numerous indebtedness claim referrals have been received from the Hines, Illinois, Veterans Administration (VA) hospital for medical treatment to persons who were subsequently found not eligible for VA medical benefits.
Thirty cases were referred to GAO for collection from the Hines VA Hospital for hospital stays from November 1972 to June 1976. The amount of the claims totaled about $89,000. In 14 of these cases, the same patient had been admitted to the hospital or the outpatient clinic more than once, and in one case, the same patient had been treated eight times. Of the 16 persons who had only a single incidence of hospital admission before being found ineligible, the shortest length of stay at Hines was 14 days. Two of the persons were treated in the hospital for over 50 days. It would seem that the hospital's admission unit or other responsible service should be able to determine a person's eligibility in considerably less than two weeks time. The hospital could then quickly discharge or refuse admittance to ineligible persons who were not in emergency or life-threatening situations.
