Defense Health Care: Additional Analysis of Costs and Benefits of Potential Governance Structures Is Needed

United States. Government Accountability Office.

United States. Government Accountability Office.

关键词: Government accountability -- United States.;    national defense;    health care;    defense health care;    letter report;   

RP-ID  :  GAO-12-911
RP-ID  :  648806

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) assessment of potential governance options for its Military Health System (MHS) did not provide complete information on the options' total cost impact and their strengths and weaknesses. As part of DOD's assessment, it identified 13 potential governance options for the MHS and included a limited analysis of the options' estimated costs savings and their strengths and weaknesses. All of the options would create a shared services concept to consolidate common services, such as medical logistics, acquisition, and facility planning, under the control of a single entity. DOD selected an option that would create a defense health agency to, among other things, assume the responsibility for creating and managing shared services, and leave the longstanding military chain of command intact with the services in control of the military hospitals. The National Defense Authorization Act (Act) for Fiscal Year 2012 required DOD to submit a report to congressional committees that would, among other things, estimate the cost savings and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each option. Using key principles derived from federal guidance, including cost estimating and economic analysis documents, GAO determined that DOD could have provided more information on cost implications and strengths and weaknesses in its report to Congress. Specifically, DOD did not (1) estimate implementation costs and comprehensive cost savings; (2) include a business case to support consolidating common services; or (3) include supporting quantitative data in its analysis of the options' strengths and weaknesses."