Why GAO Did This Study
The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is considering five bills related to improving VA management and key modernization programs, such as the EHRM program. GAO’s High-Risk List includes (1) managing risks and improving VA health care—added in 2015, and (2) VA acquisition management—added in 2019. Among other reasons, GAO added these areas to the list due to information technology, policy, and leadership challenges.
Since GAO added these issues to the list, VA has made important progress in addressing them such as by developing corrective action plans to document its approach and implementing GAO recommendations. However, VA continues to face numerous challenges that show that there is much work that remains ahead to drive significant transformation within the department.
This statement highlights findings from prior GAO work that the Subcommittee may find useful as it considers potential legislation. To do this work, GAO reviewed five pieces of proposed legislation that the Subcommittee is considering. GAO identified relevant prior work on current or recent VA modernization efforts, as well as on leading practices and strategies related to relevant topics. Prior GAO reports include GAO-08-34,
GAO-11-581, and GAO-16-438. Detailed information on the objectives, scope, and methodology for that work can be found in the issued reports…
