VA HEALTH CARE: Changes Needed to Improve Resource Allocation to Health Care Networks

Abstract

We are pleased to be here today to discuss the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care resource allocation system and how it could be improved. In fiscal year 2001, VA used the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) system to allocate $17.8 billion of its $20.3 billion health care budget to 22 regional health care networks. Networks allocate the resources they receive from VERA to their respective facilities. VERA was intended to equitably allocate resources by providing comparable resources to networks with comparable workloads. Before VERA was implemented, resources were allocated to facilities primarily on the basis of their historical expenditures. By aligning resources with workloads, VERA shifted approximately $921 million among VA's networks in fiscal year 2001 compared to what the allocations would have been under the previous allocation system.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 14, 2002
Accession Number
ADA401547

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Department Of Veterans Affairs
  • Education
  • Financial Management
  • Governments
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • House Of Representatives
  • International Relations
  • National Security
  • Patient Care
  • Prisoners Of War
  • Puerto Rico
  • Simulations
  • United States
  • Workload

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Economics
  • Medical or Health Care Field.
  • Public Financial Management and Budgeting