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GAO-05-310R 1 (2005-02-28)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptaric0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SGAO Accountability * Integrity Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 February 28, 2005 Congressional Committees Subject: DOD and VA Health Care: Incentives Program for Sharing Health Resources Combined, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provide health care services to about 16.8 million beneficiaries at an estimated cost of $58 billion for fiscal year 2005-$30.4 billion for DOD and $27.7 billion for VA.' In 1982, the Congress passed the Veterans' Administration and Department of Defense Health Resources Sharing and Emergency Operations Act (Sharing Act) to promote more cost-effective use of health care resources and more efficient delivery of care.2 Specifically, the Congress authorized DOD and VA to enter into sharing agreements with each other to buy, sell, and barter medical and support services. To further encourage ongoing collaboration, the Congress passed the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2003,3 which directed the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a joint incentives program to identify and provide incentives to implement, fund, and evaluate creative health care coordination and sharing initiatives between DOD and VA. Under the program, DOD and VA are to solicit proposals from their program offices, DOD military treatment facilities, or VA medical facilities for project initiatives at least annually. DOD and VA health care officials are to develop program guidelines and establish project evaluation and selection criteria. To facilitate the program, each secretary is required to contribute a minimum of $15 million from each department's appropriation into an account established in the U.S. Treasury4 for each fiscal year from 2004 through 2007. The Financial Management Workgroup5 (FMWG) under the Health Executive Council6 (HEC) administers the Incentive Fund program. 'DOD estimates the number of its eligible beneficiaries for fiscal year 2005 to be 9.1 million. VA estimates the number of enrolled beneficiaries to be 7.7 million. 2Pub. L. No. 97-174, 96 Stat. 70. 3Pub. L. No. 107-314, §721(a)(1), 116 Stat. 2458, 2589-2595 (2002). 4DOD-VA Health Care Sharing Incentive Fund. 'FMWG membership includes representatives from the Veterans Health Administration Office of Finance, the Office of Patient Care Services, the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management, and the Office of Health Informatics. DOD membership includes representatives from the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; Health Affairs; and the TRICARE Management Activity (TMA). 6HEC membership includes senior leaders from DOD and VA who are working to institutionalize DOD and VA sharing and collaboration to ensure the efficient use of health services and resources. The committee is co-chaired by DOD's Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and VA's Under Secretary for Health. GAO-05-310R DOD and VA Incentives Program for Sharing Health Resources

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