DVA to save $99.8M in Medical Examinations next year

The 2026-27 Portfolio Budget Statements (PBS) released last week revealed almost $100M will be saved next year in medical examinations requested by DVA. The forecasted costs are well below the amounts paid by DVA in FY 2023 for medical examinations.

Obviously, this cost excludes MLCOA contract which is hidden in another budget line item. But it begs the question, if DVA are expecting 9.8% increase in the number of claims, how are these savings realistic.

There are only 3 options:

1. Reduce the number of claims being processed;
2. Increase the number of veterans being pushed to IMEs;
3. Stop paying our doctors fairly to complete these reports.

We are already seeing all these tactics by DVA - the PBS is confirmation this is only going to get worse!