Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability
Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability

State Veterans Program Meets Most Goals; Savings Seen in Outsourcing Certain Functions

Report 01-63, December 2001




Report Summary

  • The Services to Veterans Program has achieved its legislative goals for nursing home occupancy rates and for obtaining federally funded benefits such as medical equipment and federal disability payments for Florida's veterans. To provide better information for assessing program performance, the department should establish better controls and processes for verifying data accuracy; collect and report on the number of clients served; and develop better measures to assess the impact of the domiciliary.
  • The veterans' homes provide substantial benefits to the state and veterans. Preliminary data indicates the department's pilot to outsource selected nursing home functions at the Pembroke Pines facility will produce cost savings of $534,000 over a three-year period. If the pilot evaluation expected in January 2002 determines that private agencies provide a comparable quality of services, then the department plans to phase in outsourcing at other facilities. The department's five-year outsourcing plan should be accelerated to achieve additional projected annual cost savings of $420,000. Further outsourcing could be feasible, but faces strong opposition from veterans' groups.


Related Reports
  1. Progress Report: Veterans Program Still Lacks Good Performance Data; More Cost Savings Possible by Extending Outsourcing
    Report 04-43 June 2004
Copies of this report in print or alternate accessible format may be obtained by email OPPAGA@oppaga.fl.gov, telephone (850) 488-0021, or mail 111 W. Madison St., Room 312 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1475.
Copies of this report in print or alternate accessible format may be obtained by email OPPAGA@oppaga.fl.gov, telephone (850) 488-0021, or mail 111 W. Madison St., Room 312 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1475.
social services, health, veterans, nursing homes, privatization, domiciliary, veterans' benefits, veterans' claims, veterans' educational benefits