A government watchdog has confirmed the factors behind a more than $2.7 billion budget gap at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs last year.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office launched the investigation at the request of the House Veterans Affairs Committee in an effort to confirm the facts behind the shortfall.
Randall Williamson, a spokesman with GAO, said higher-than-expected costs associated with Care in the Community programs accounted for roughly 85 percent of the difference. He added while the agency has made some effort to better manage its budget, they still need to work on tracking those kinds of costs.
"They’ve plugged the holes sufficiently in the short term," said Williamson. "But to really make sure this doesn’t happen again, there needs to be some longer system IT issues that need to be corrected."
According to the report, the remaining 15 percent was due to a dramatic unexpected increase in the price of Hepatitis C treatments for veterans.
