Hispanic Veterans

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) efforts to address the cultural and linguistic needs of Hispanic veterans. GAO noted that: (1) VA has several agencywide and local initiatives that address Hispanic veterans' cultural, linguistic, and non-VA needs; (2) it is difficult to measure the success of these VA initiatives because VA does not collect data that allows it to evaluate the delivery of benefits and services to Hispanic veterans; (3) VA needs to conduct special data collection efforts to assess Hispanic veterans utilization of VA benefits; and (4) VA is exploring specific approaches for collecting and assessing data relative to minority veterans.