The VA and Medicare HMOs — Complementary or Redundant?

tients stated that they had received less care from the VA after their HMO enrollment.Redundant primary care might lead to confusion among providers and patients, and the dispensing of medications from both systems might lead to serious drug toxicity and interactions.Despite having received capitated payments from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicare HMOs had not provided any services in the past year for 25 percent of the HMO-enrolled veterans in our study.Currently, the VA and Medicare health care systems remain isolated and independent sources of care for veterans.Providers and policymakers might consider whether enhancement of collaboration and elimination of redundancies might offer important cost savings and improved safety for dually eligible veterans under these two federally funded health care programs.