VA Collections from Insurers Fall Short

The Department of Veterans Affairs needs to do a better job of collecting payment from third-party insurance companies, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated in a June 10 report to Congress. The conclusion came after GAO analyzed patient encounters at 18 VA medical centers across the country, and found errors in documentation, coding and billing in 2007 that added up to $1.7 billion in unbillable fees. “VA lacks policies and procedures and a full range of standardized reports for effective management oversight of VA-wide third-party billing and collection operations,” the report stated. While the VA deserves credit for implementing new procedures for collecting from third-party insurers, the GAO said many of them are either open-ended or will not be fully implemented for a number of years. “Until these shortcomings are addressed, VA will continue to fall short of its goal to maximize third-party revenue, thereby placing a higher burden on taxpayers,” the report concluded.