Dod Health Care - Better Use of Malpractice Data Could Help Improve Quality of Care: Hrd-87-30 (Paperback)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how the Department of Defense (DOD) utilizes medical malpractice information to improve the quality of medical care and reduce the risk of malpractice. GAO found that: (1) although DOD collected some data on malpractice claims, the data did not include information on potential claims or specific providers responsible for inadequate care necessary to identify patterns of recurring medical problems; (2) DOD did not systematically provide malpractice information or educational case studies to the services for quality assurance or risk management purposes; (3) service regulations varied concerning the definition of a potential claim; (4) DOD did not investigate all potential malpractice claims; and (5) DOD needed a centralized system to collect and analyze known medical care problems and focus attention on corrective and preventive actions.