Defense Health Care: Workload Reductions at Military Hospitals Have Increased CHAMPUS Costs

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the reduced access of beneficiaries to military medical facilities, focusing on: (1) the extent to which military facilities referred beneficiaries to the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS); (2) whether the reduced access occurred in inpatient or outpatient services; (3) whether reductions occurred in facilities across all of the military services; and (4) the reasons for the reduced access to military medical facilities.