Healthcare Inspection: Review of the Veterans Health Administration's Use of Appropriated Funds for Research

摘要

As required by the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, fiscal year 2009 (FY09), the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of Healthcare Inspections (OHI), completed a review of VA research and its relevance to veterans. Because Medical and Prosthetic Appropriation funds are available to VA for 2 years, this report addresses the FY07 appropriation. The purposes of the evaluation were to (1) describe the project areas for which these funds were obligated, (2) delineate the medical requirements of veterans as demonstrated by veteran medical care utilization, and (3) evaluate the relevance of funded research to the demonstrated medical requirements of veterans. This review addressed (1) the obligations of funds by the commodities purchased by the grant holders and division managers and (2) the categorization of research protocols according into Designated Research Areas (DRAs). DRAs were developed by VHA R&D as a mechanism for reporting to Congress by categorizing the areas of research to which appropriated funds have been assigned. For a perspective on whether VA research efforts are appropriate to the needs of veterans, we analyzed the use of VA healthcare facilities during FY08 (October 1, 2007 - September 30, 2008).