VA Fails at Tracking Health Issues Among LGBTQ Veterans: Watchdog

The Department of Veterans Affairs is not adequately tracking health issues among LGBTQ veterans, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In a report released this week, GAO inspectors criticized the VA for not consistently collecting “sexual orientation and self-identified gender identity data.” A solution is at least a year away, says the GAO audit, which was first reported by Military Times. When this information is gathered, it is often done informally by individual physicians who may include it in their notes. Without a standardized collection method across the entire system, VA doctors “may not be able to fully identify and address any health disparities faced by LGBT veterans, or provide them clinically appropriate, comprehensive care,” the GAO report says.