The Government Accountability Office has urged the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to create interim milestones and timeframes in order to monitor the implementation of recommended updates to an integrated federal health care center in North Chicago, Illinois.DoD and VA should also perform a cost-effectiveness analysis for the Captain James A. Lovell FHCC that will serve as a basis to assess the center’s “future efficiency,†GAO said in a report published Monday.
GAO made the recommendations after it reviewed the agencies’ congressional report that seeks to evaluate whether to continue to operate the Lovel FHCC as an integrated facility or as a joint venture after five years of demonstration.
The congressional budget watchdog also found that DoD and VA’s evaluation report to Congress contained 17 recommended updates to the FHCC but failed to cite timeframes for the execution of those recommendations.
The Pentagon and VA decided to merge their medical facilities in North Chicago through the Lovell FHCC under a five-year demonstration authorized by the fiscal 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, according to the report.
As an integrated FHCC, the facility operates under a unified budget, workforce and governance structure, GAO noted.
