Va And Defense Health Care Evolving Health Care Systems Require Rethinking Of Resource Sharing Strategies Report To Congressional Requesters PDF Download

We are pleased to be here today to discuss the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) and the Department of Defense's (DOD) sharing of federal health care resources. VA and DOD combined provide health care services to more than 12 million beneficiaries and operate more than 700 medical facilities at a cost of about $34 billion annually. You asked us to conduct a review of the sharing program, which we initiated in January 1999. As part of this review, we visited a number of VA and DOD facilities participating in sharing and surveyed over 400 local sharing partners to determine the extent to which VA and DOD actually exchange services-the first time such data have been collected.