Summary

How adequate are plans by the Defense Department (DOD), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and other organizations to care for wartime casualties returning to the United States? GAO testified that DOD does not know enough about the qualifications or readiness of medical reservists; the number of beds expected to be available in DOD and VA hospitals is overstated; and DOD lacks adequate plans to develop more specialty care, such as burn treatment. Some communities lack adequate plans for receiving and transporting casualties, and systems to track casualties fall short. GAO also reported that VA medical centers have not planned for the continued care of beneficiaries displaced from those centers.