Veterans Health Administration: Opportunities Exist for Improving Veterans' Access to Health Care Services in the Pacific Islands
Abstract
Veterans access to timely health care at VA medical facilities has been along-standing problem identified by GAO and VAs Office of Inspector General. The remote nature of the Pacific Islands creates some unique challenges for VAPIHCS, which may affect its ability to provide the approximately 50,000 veterans it serves in American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands with timely access to primary, mental health, and specialty care. House Report 114497 included a provision for GAO to review VHAs efforts to provide timely access to health care within VAPIHCS. Among other things, this report examines: the extent to which the VAPIHCS veterans received (1) timely primary and mental health care, and (2) timely specialty care; and (3) any challenges VAPIHCS faced in recruiting and retaining physicians, and strategies to resolve them. GAO reviewed relevant policy documents and a randomly selected, non-generalizable sample of 164 medical records, and interviewed VHA, VAPIHCS, and DOD officials.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1154542
Entities
People
- Debra A. Draper
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office