Errors in Military Health Overhaul Plan Could Result in Some Losing Care, GAO Finds – By Patricia Kime (Military.com) / June 4 2020
An ongoing, massive overhaul of the Defense Health System that will send some non-military patients to civilian providers is built on incomplete or faulty data that could leave beneficiaries without access to quality care, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
As part of an effort to improve health care for military beneficiaries and eliminate redundant programs across the armed services’ medical commands, the Defense Department is transferring management of military hospitals and clinics to the centralized Defense Health Agency and focusing its efforts on caring for and training active-duty personnel.
The plan calls for shifting at least 200,000 beneficiaries to Tricare network providers and downsizing 43 military health facilities, as well as closing five.
But in a report released May 29, GAO analysts said the DoD’s assessments of the availability and quality of the providers needed to make the plan work in the Tricare networks are based on “incomplete and inaccurate information.”
Continue to article: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/06/04/errors-military-health-overhaul-plan-could-result-some-losing-care-gao-finds.html
