AmericaThe selected action is to evaluate the effectiveness of health care sharing agreements—not simply to announce more agreements. GAO still lists it as open. The latest comment describes an assessment tool and data collection, with a first full performance review planned for fiscal 2027.
GAO-25-107497 / Recommendation 2 ↗ · Selected comment 2026-03 · Source consulted 2026-10-05
Who can implement this action?
- Institutional owner
- VA Under Secretary for Health, working with DOD
- Authority path
- Agency recommendation—not a new law
- Selected source action
- Recommendation 2
- Stable desk join key
- GAO-25-107497:recommendation-2
Create an evaluation process with goals, performance measures, usable data, and a way to adjust agreements based on what the review finds.
GAO-25-107497 / Recommendation 2 ↗ · Selected comment 2026-03 · Source consulted 2026-10-05
A recommendation is not itself an enacted law, an appropriation, or proof of misconduct. The owner here is the institutional role identified in the source, not an endorsement or accusation about whoever holds it today. This record follows one selected action; it does not claim to track every action in the underlying report.
What changed—and when?
GAO’s March 2026 comment says the interagency working group produced a utilization assessment tool and resource-sharing playbook, and began collecting data. Its first full performance review is planned for the third quarter of fiscal year 2027. These are reported implementation steps, not a completed effectiveness evaluation.
GAO-25-107497 / Recommendation 2 ↗ · Selected comment 2026-03 · Source consulted 2026-10-05
GAO’s status label, an agency’s description of its work, and our interpretation are separate. An older comment remains older even when the page is retrieved today. Check the current official record before relying on a deadline or claiming the action is complete.
What does the financial claim mean?
- Benefit class
- Potential cost savings + access to care
- As reported
- Tens of millions annually
- Time horizon
- Annual; topic-level potential
- Attributed estimate source
- GAO 2026 annual report
GAO’s 2026 annual report describes topic-level potential savings in the tens of millions of dollars annually, alongside improved access to care. It does not assign that amount solely to Recommendation 2.
GAO-26-108505 / May 12, 2026 annual report ↗ · Read the table, notes and underlying discussion ↗
A tool being issued does not prove it is used consistently or that patients receive better care. The report’s 185 agreements are an April 2025 inventory, not a count verified for October 2026. No actual savings figure is asserted here.
Do not count the face value of shared services as money saved. Separate avoided costs from transfers between agencies and account for implementation costs.
Potential savings, preserved revenue, tax-expenditure changes, and service improvements are not interchangeable. Neither this estimate nor this page creates an entitlement or an IOU. A separate lawful budget decision would be needed to allocate any funds. Why the desk does not show a grand total.
What would demonstrate real progress?
Evidence to satisfy the selected action: Evidence that the departments evaluate agreement performance, apply the process, and use the findings to make changes. A new PDF alone is not the end of the evidence chain.
GAO-25-107497 / Recommendation 2 ↗ · Selected comment 2026-03 · Source consulted 2026-10-05
A practical evaluation test
Compare comparable services before and after a sharing change. Include wait times, travel burden, access, total delivery cost, and the cost of administering the agreement. Keep patient-level information private.
The evaluation test and questions below are America.co’s proposed research framework, not GAO’s prescribed procedure or a reported result.
- Which agreements have complete baseline and follow-up measures?
- What decisions changed because of the assessment?
- Did access improve without shifting cost or travel burden onto patients?
Attach each answer to a public document, date, and responsible institution. If a fact is missing, keep it unknown. Preserve contrary evidence rather than forcing the record into a success/failure story. A useful account explains what would change the conclusion.
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Turn the record into a checkable question.
No account, personal data, or political profile is required. This worksheet is not submitted or automatically saved. Omit private health, borrower, victim, or personnel records. You can leave unknowns unresolved.
Important distinctions
Is the GAO recommendation complete?
The source consulted on October 5, 2026 lists the selected recommendation as Open. Its latest comment is dated March 2026; a planned fiscal 2027 review is not a verified completed review.
Does this prove the agreements save money?
No. The annual report identifies potential financial and service benefits. The selected recommendation asks for the evaluation needed to establish effectiveness.
Follow the source trail.
- GAO-25-107497 / official report and action status ↗Published 2025-06-30; publicly released 2025-06-30. Selected action: Recommendation 2.
- GAO-26-108505 / annual topic and financial context ↗Published 2026-05-12. A topic estimate is not an estimate solely for one selected action.
- GAO’s complete duplication and cost-savings tracker ↗Use the official tracker for broader coverage. This desk is an eight-record pilot.
For a correction, send the disputed passage, the selected action, and a current public source through our contact page. Do not send private records. We are not GAO, not a government agency, and not an expert legal, tax, medical, or engineering reviewer. People and editorial standards.