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HEHS-94-161R 1 (1994-05-04)

handle is hein.gao/gaobackof0001 and id is 1 raw text is: h-)6v1 United States GAO General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Human Resources Division B-257173 May 4, 1994 The Honorable John D. Rockefeller, IV Chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs United States Senate Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter provides information that you requested on March 25, 1994, concerning veterans' service medical records. After discussions with your staff we agreed to (1) describe the service medical records control procedures followed by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) after a servicemember is discharged and (2) identify some of the reasons that some records may be hard to find. We agreed to focus on procedures applicable to Persian Gulf veterans, basically those followed since 1991. To obtain this information, we reviewed documents prepared by each military service that outlined the procedures that were in place in 1991. We obtained updated information from interviews with DOD officials. We also reviewed applicable portions of the VA claims processing manual and interviewed VA officials. Some of the information is based solely on interviews with DOD and VA officials. These officials reviewed the flow charts that we developed and agreed that the charts present an accurate overview of the service medical records control procedures. As requested by your office, attached are the following: -- Flow charts, with explanatory text, illustrating the service medical records control procedures. There is a chart for each of the four military services. As shown on the charts, services have implemented new procedures that transfer records directly to VA. The new procedures have simplified the process. However, the possibility of medical records being misplaced, which has been a longstanding problem, remains because there are still many locations where records could be found within the new system. -- A map indicating the locations of facilities included in the procedures as well as other places officials said that records are sometimes found. There are 126 U.S. facilities shown on the map. There are over 10,000 GAO/HEHS-94-161R Medical Records Control

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