WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA's) FY 2004 Annual Performance and Accountability Report, submitted Nov. 15 to the President and the Congress, confirms that VA is delivering high-quality health care, benefits and memorial services to the nation’s veterans.
“We are committed to providing our veterans with the best in benefits and health care by making VA a model of excellence," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. “2004 was a year of great progress in the lives of our nation’s veterans and their families.”
VA achieved an unqualified “clean” audit opinion on its financial statements for the sixth consecutive year. This is the best result an agency can receive from an independent auditor.
The number of veterans using VA’s health care system has risen dramatically in recent years, increasing from 3.8 million in FY 2000 to 5.1 million in FY 2004. Despite this significant increase in workload, VA continues to receive high satisfaction ratings among its patients with scores of 84 percent for inpatients and 83 percent for outpatients.
Ninety-four percent of primary care patients and 93 percent of specialty care patients were able to schedule an appointment within 30 days of their desired date. Both of these results represent improvement from 2003 despite greater demand on VA’s medical staff.
In memorial affairs, VA maintained high levels of customer satisfaction. In its most recent annual survey, 94 percent of respondents rated the quality of service received at VA’s 120 national cemeteries as “excellent.”
VA’s benefits programs are critical to improving the quality of veterans’ lives and those of their families. In FY 2004, over 2.5 million veterans received compensation benefits for disabilities incurred in or aggravated during military service. One of VA’s top priorities is to process claims in a timely and accurate manner.
In FY 2004, more than 700,000 disability claims were processed, and an additional 750,000 beneficiaries received decisions on claims not requiring a rating decision. Veterans and their families also received their decisions more quickly – in an average of 166 days for those requiring a disability rating, compared to 223 days in FY 2002 and 182 days in FY 2003. The accuracy of VA's decisions is also improving.
To use their resources more efficiently, VA and the Department of Defense have entered into sharing agreements currently valued at $120 million. These agreements allow the agencies to share in the delivery of direct medical care and other services. VA and DoD are also leveraging their buying power for pharmaceuticals and medical products. These initiatives result in savings which in turn can be applied towards improving health care and benefits to veterans.
“As America’s troops continue the fight against terrorism and strive to bring freedom and democracy to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, we are reminded once again of the incredible sacrifices our men and women in uniform make in defense of freedom,” said Principi. “I will ensure that they continue to receive exceptional service and the respect they have earned.”
VA’s FY 2004 Annual Performance and Accountability Report can be found on the Internet at www.va.gov/budget/report by November 30.
