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IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Cites GAO Recommendation that DOD Use VA's Mail Service on Drug Refills WASHINGTON, D.C. - The VA and Department of Defense will save American taxpayers over $300 million a year by increasing joint procurement of pharmaceuticals, VA Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation Chairman Steve Buyer (IN-5) said Friday, announcing the results of a GAO report he commissioned on the subject. Buyer said the 1982 Public Law 97-174 (the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense Health Resources Sharing and Emergency Operations Act) gave the two huge agencies authority to share medical resources. Buyer said the two departments spent a total of about $3.2 billion on drug prescriptions in fiscal year 2000, and new drug benefits in 2001 will further hike DOD's annual costs by $800 million. "As a result of Oversight and Investigations scrutiny," Buyer said, "we've found that the VA and DOD pharmaceutical procurement officials have met regularly over the last 18 months, something they hadn't been doing the previous 18 years." "These regular meetings have identified opportunities and produced commitments to increase the number of pharmaceuticals they jointly procure, thereby saving taxpayers substantial sums of money," Buyer added. The GAO report also cites DOD's commitment to pilot test VA's mail service pharmacy. Buyer cited estimates that DOD could save $45 million from such an endeavor, which would also increase patient safety and convenience. But Buyer pointed out that much more can be done in terms of sharing other medical resources. In 1999, VA and DOD entered into sharing agreements totaling $60 million out of combined health care budgets of $35 billion. "That's a start," Buyer said. "But that' s less than two-tenths of one percent of the medical budgets of these departments, according to last year's GAO testimony. More savings, such as from sharing medical services and jointly procuring medical equipment, could be reinvested in improved health care for veterans, military retirees, servicemembers and their families." |
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