Additional steps must be taken to improve management and oversight of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ beneficiary travel program, GAO has said.
GAO has identified the program as susceptible to significant improper payments and has estimated $71 million in improper payments for fiscal 2012, according to GAO-13-632.
It said that the Veterans Health Administration has developed efforts to improve the program but a lack of internal controls may impede their effectiveness.
Specifically, VHA has developed multiple efforts to improve the management and oversight of its process for reimbursing veterans’ travel expenses for medical appointments, as well as the timeliness and accuracy of payments, including software to determine reimbursement eligibility and a Beneficiary Travel Analytics Tool to flag questionable reimbursements.
However, GAO found that internal controls were lacking for some of the efforts. For example, it said VHA has not developed a plan to ensure medical centers’ compliance with the efforts or existing policies. VHA also has not developed a plan for evaluating VHA-wide performance indicators for the analytics tool.
VA generally agreed to identify and apply internal controls in its efforts to improve management and oversight of the travel program, including evaluating performance indicators for the analytics tool, and providing effective communication tools to medical centers for electronic funds transfer.