GAO report on VA and what needs to be done

Department of Veterans Affairs
The Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) mission reflects the nation's commitment to care for veterans, their families, and their survivors.

About a quarter of the nation's population, approximately 74.5 million people, are potentially eligible for VA benefits and services because they are veterans, family members, or survivors of veterans.

VA is responsible for providing federal benefits to eligible veterans and their families and operates nationwide programs for health care, financial assistance, and burial benefits.

The health care delivery system operated by VA is the largest in the nation and provides a broad range of services, including services uniquely related to veterans' health or special needs.

VA also provides disability compensation to veterans who are disabled by injury or disease incurred or aggravated during military service as well as pensions for certain wartime veterans with disabilities.
VA faces a range of key management challenges in the areas of disability benefits, health care delivery, property management, and information technology.

VA's eligibility criteria for disability compensation do not fully incorporate a modern understanding of how technology and the labor market affect disabled veterans' ability to work. In addition, VA continues to face long-standing problems with large pending disability claims inventories, lengthy processing times, concerns about decision accuracy and consistency, and replacing an aging benefits processing system it relies on to accurately process benefits to more than 3.5 million veterans. Further, both VA and the Department of Defense (DOD) face challenges in meeting the health care and disability evaluation needs of servicemembers returning from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as veterans of those military operations.

VA has faced difficulties in managing its resources to be consistent with a substantial increase in its patient workload, has allowed internal control weaknesses and inadequate oversight to limit its ability to maximize revenue from third-party insurers, and has challenges recruiting and retaining health care professionals to provide care to its veteran population. In addition, VA lacks policies and procedures designed to provide adequate controls over funds used for the procurement of goods and services.

Compounding VA's challenge to manage its resources is its vast inventory of underutilized and vacant space.

VA faces challenges in controlling its IT equipment and managing its IT resources.
http://www.gao.gov/transition_2009/agency/vad/

linked from Veterans For Common Sense