VA Health Care: Opportunities Still Exist for Reducing Fee-Basis Pharmacy Costs
HRD-86-66
Published: Mar 06, 1986. Publicly Released: Mar 06, 1986.
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Highlights
GAO followed up on its 1983 report which recommended that the Veterans Administration (VA): (1) reduce the number and cost of prescriptions filled by private pharmacies on a VA-reimbursable, fee-for-service basis; (2) strengthen its efforts to identify prescriptions that should not have been filled by private pharmacies; and (3) deny payments if veterans fail to use VA pharmacies after being asked to do so.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Veterans Administration | The Chief Medical Director of Veterans Affairs should establish, as a formal goal, that clinics of jurisdiction fill at least 95 percent of fee-basis prescriptions in VA pharmacies. |
Closed – Implemented
VA concurred with this recommendation and prepared a circular formulating the 95-percent goal. The circular was issued on June 16, 1987, and will be incorporated into VA manual M2, Part 7, chapter 4, by July 1988.
|
| Veterans Administration | The Chief Medical Director of Veterans Affairs should require VA central office officials to routinely monitor reports to determine clinics' performance compared to the 95-percent goal. |
Closed – Implemented
VA concurred with this recommendation and prepared a quarterly report comparing the performance of each clinic of jurisdiction in meeting the 95-percent goal.
|
| Veterans Administration | The Chief Medical Director of Veterans Affairs should discuss, with officials of clinics not meeting the goal, the extent to which nonemergency prescriptions are being filled by private pharmacies and, if appropriate, the types of actions necessary to reduce this number. |
Closed – Implemented
VA concurred with this recommendation and sent a quarterly report to its regions for appropriate follow-up with clinic officials.
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Topics
Cost analysisDrugsHealth care cost controlMedical feesPharmaceutical industryVeterans benefitsPharmacyVeteransPhysiciansHealth care