VA Health Care

Efforts to Improve Veterans' Access to Primary Care Services Gao ID: T-HEHS-96-134 April 24, 1996

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) runs one of the nation's largest health care systems, including 173 hospitals and 220 clinics. Last year, VA spent about $16 million serving 2.6 million veterans. This testimony focuses on VA efforts to increase veterans' access to health care. GAO discusses legal, financial, and equity-of-access issues facing VA managers as they try to establish new "access points"--a VA clinic or a VA funded or reimbursed private clinic, group practice, or individual practitioner that is geographically separate from the parent facility. Access points are intended to provide primary care to all veterans and refer those needing specialized services or inpatient stays to VA hospitals.



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