VA Health Care: Spending for Mental Health Strategic Plan Initiatives Was Substantially Less Than Planned Page: 24 of 39
This report is part of the collection entitled: Government Accountability Office Reports and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Amount allocated
Type of mental health service (dollars)
Educational programs 1,391,208
Stand Down events for homeless veterans 467,665
Pilot program for incarcerated veterans with mental illness 233,334
Peer housing assistance pilot program for homeless veterans 168,980
Initiative for mentally ill chemically-addicted veterans 69,517
Subtotal-new fiscal year 2006 initiatives $92,016,474
Initiatives initially funded in fiscal year 2005 65,675,513
Total $157,691,987
Source: GAO summary of VA information.
Notes: GAO did not independently determine the extent to which legislation regarding VA health care
expressly requires spending or authorizes these services but relied on VA's determination regarding
these services.
aRelated to the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act of 2001, which authorized VA to
establish up to 10 new domiciliary programs for homeless veterans. See Pub. L. No. 107-95, 2043,
115 Stat. 903, 913.
VA headquarters officials used RFPs and other approaches targeted to
specific initiatives to determine which medical centers would receive
funding for new mental health strategic plan initiatives in fiscal year 2006.
In November 2005, for example, VA issued an RFP that covered six mental
health areas: PTSD services, including residential services; health
promotion and preventive care services for veterans returning from OEF
and OIF; specialized substance abuse treatment programs; new mental
health residential rehabilitation and treatment programs;20 enhanced or
new CBOC mental health services; and new telemental health programs to
provide mental health services through videoconferencing. VA also used
other approaches to target funds to medical centers for grant and per diem
program liaisons, new or expanded mental health intensive case
management teams, and expanded inpatient services at the Tennessee
Valley Healthcare System medical center. Further, VA allocated funding
for medical supplies, equipment, and office furniture for Gulf Coast mental
health programs affected by Hurricane Katrina. As in fiscal year 2005, VA
allocated funding to the Employee Education System to support
educational programs. VA also allocated funding to support additional
mental health initiatives such as the development of web-based support
tools for veterans with mental health concerns, infrastructure
20These could include homeless domiciliary programs, psychosocial programs, substance
abuse programs, PTSD programs, or other general programs.GAO-07-66 VA Mental Health Services
Page 20
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This report can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Report.
United States. Government Accountability Office. VA Health Care: Spending for Mental Health Strategic Plan Initiatives Was Substantially Less Than Planned, report, November 21, 2006; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc302162/m1/24/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.