VA Health Care

Living within five miles of a VA Hospital or outpatient clinic significant increases the likelihood that a veterans will use VA health care services. Although most veterans live within 25 miles of a VA hospital or outpatient clinic, use of VA facility declines significantly among veterans living more than five miles from a VA facility. Only about 11 percent of veterans live within five miles of a VA Hospital providing acute medical and surgical care and 17 percent within five miles of a VA outpatient clinic. Use of VA health care services does not decline with distance as rapidly among veterans receiving VA compensation or pension payments. Even those veterans with service-connected disability who live more than 100 miles from a VA outpatient clinic are more likely to avail themselves of VA outpatient services than are higher income veterans with nonservice-connected disabilities who live within five miles of a VA outpatient clinic. Other factors that may contribute to differences in the use of VA services include broader eligibility and entitlement to outpatient care for service-connected and low-income veterans, veterans' ages, and differences in available resources.

GAO found that: (1) although most veterans live within 25 miles of a VA facility, veterans living within 5 miles of a facility are much more likely to use VA health services; (2) about 11 percent of veterans live within 5 miles of a VA hospital and 17 percent live within 5 miles of a VA outpatient clinic; (3) veterans receiving VA compensation or pension payments are less sensitive to distance from a VA facility than veterans with nonservice-connected disabilities; (4) veterans with service-connected disabilities living more than 100 miles from a VA outpatient clinic are more likely to use VA outpatient services than veterans living within 5 miles of a VA clinic; and (5) differences in the use of VA services are affected by factors such as veterans' eligibility for outpatient care, veterans' ages, and available resources.