VA Drug Formulary: Better Oversight Is Required, but Veterans Are Getting Needed Drugs Metadata

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Title

  • Main Title VA Drug Formulary: Better Oversight Is Required, but Veterans Are Getting Needed Drugs

Creator

  • Author: United States. General Accounting Office.
    Creator Type: Organization

Publisher

  • Name: United States. General Accounting Office.
    Place of Publication: Washington D.C.

Date

  • Creation: 2001-01-29

Language

  • English

Description

  • Content Description: A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "During the last three years, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made significant progress in establishing its national drug formulary, which has generally met with the prescriber acceptance. Most veterans are receiving the drugs the need and rarely register complaints about prescription drugs. However, VA has not been sufficient to ensure that the Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN) and medical centers comply with formulary policies and that the flexibility given to them does not compromise VA's goal of formulary standardization. Contrary to VA formulary policy, some facilities omitted national formulary drugs or modified the closest drug classes. Although a limited number of drugs to supplement the national formulary is permitted, formulary differences among facilities are likely to become more pronounced, as more drugs are added by VISNs, decreasing formulary standardization. VA recognizes the trade-off between local flexibility and standardization, but it lacks criteria for determining the appropriateness of adding drugs to supplement the national formulary and therefore may not be able to determine whether the decrease in standardization is acceptable."

Subject

  • Library of Congress Subject Headings: Government accountability -- United States.
  • Keyword: veterans
  • Keyword: va drug formulary
  • Keyword: letter report

Coverage

  • Place Name: United States

Collection

  • Name: Government Accountability Office Reports
    Code: GAORT

Institution

  • Name: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
    Code: UNTGD

Rights

  • Rights License: pd

Resource Type

  • Report

Format

  • Text

Identifier

  • Report No.: GAO-01-183
  • Accession or Local Control No: 230034
  • URL: http://gao.gov/products/GAO-01-183
  • Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metadc291445
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