A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)--an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)--has experienced an expanding workload due to emerging health threats, such as bioterrorism. Strategic planning helps agencies like CDC sustain a workforce with the necessary education, skills, and competencies--human capital--to fulfill their missions. In September 2007, CDC released its Strategic Human Capital Management Plan (CDC Plan). GAO was asked to review CDC's human capital planning. GAO determined (1) whether the CDC Plan was designed to address the human capital challenges CDC faces; (2) the extent to which the CDC Plan is strategically aligned with agency goals, plans, and budget; and (3) the extent to which CDC incorporated GAO's principles for strategic human capital planning. To do so, GAO interviewed officials and analyzed data and documents."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The President's budget request for the Department of Defense's (DOD) Defense Health Program has increased steadily in recent years. For example, from fiscal year 2005 to fiscal year 2009, the budget request for the program increased from about $17.6 billion to about $23.6 billion, an increase of about 34 percent. DOD has attributed a majority of this increase to growth in medical care, dental care, and pharmaceuticals provided in the private sector to active duty personnel and other eligible beneficiaries. These private sector expenses are funded through the Defense Health Program's Private Sector Care Budget Activity Group (BAG). From fiscal year 2005 to fiscal year 2009, the budget request for this BAG increased by about 36 percent--from about $9.0 billion to almost $12.2 billion. The Conference Report accompanying the Fiscal Year 2008 Department of Defense Appropriations bill directed us to review the President's fiscal year 2009 budget request for the Defense Health Program's Private Sector Care BAG. To do this, we reviewed (1) DOD's justification for the request for the Private Sector Care BAG, including the underlying estimates and the extent to which DOD considered historical information; and …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) faces challenges in bridging language and cultural barriers as it seeks to provide quality health care services to an increasingly diverse veteran population in terms of race, ethnicity, sex, and age. To meet the needs of veterans with limited English proficiency (LEP), VA issued an LEP Directive that provides guidance for medical centers in assessing language needs and, if needed, developing language access services designed to ensure effective communication between English-speaking providers and those with LEP. In addition, VA is also challenged to deliver health care services in ways that are culturally appropriate--that is, respectful of and responsive to the cultural values of a diverse veteran population. In light of these challenges, GAO was asked to discuss the (1) actions VA has taken to implement its LEP Directive and the status of veterans' utilization of language access services, and (2) efforts VA has made to provide culturally appropriate health care services. GAO reviewed VA's policies and the LEP Directive, interviewed VA officials and reviewed efforts by 6 VA medical centers and 10 other VA facilities to implement VA's LEP Directive …