**GAO-04-162**                      Published: Jan 30, 2004. Publicly Released: Jan 30, 2004.                  

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## Highlights

Veterans residing in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have had difficulty accessing Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care. In response, VA has acted to reduce travel times to medical facilities and waiting times for appointments with primary and specialty care physicians. Recently, VA released a draft national plan for restructuring its health care system as part of a planning initiative known as Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES). GAO was asked to assess Chattanooga-area veterans' access to inpatient hospital and outpatient primary and specialty care against VA's guidelines for travel times and appointment waiting times and to determine how the draft CARES plan would affect Chattanooga-area veterans' access to such care.

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## Topics

Veterans

Health care planningHealth care servicesHealth resources utilizationVeteransVeterans benefitsVeterans hospitalsVA health carePrimary careSpecialty careHospitals