The VA National Formulary is a listing of products (drugs and supplies) that must be available for prescription at all VA facilities, and cannot be made non-formulary by a Veteran Integrated Service Network (VISN) or individual medical center. Regarding chemical or biological entities that by law must be submitted to the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for pre-marketing approval, only those entities that actually have been approved by FDA using New Drug Application (NDA), Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA), or biologics license, may be added to the VA National Formulary.

The VA Pharmacy Benefits Management Services offer a broad range of services and are committed to provide and deliver Veterans personalized, proactive, patient-driven health care. Our Mission: To improve the health status of Veterans by encouraging the appropriate use of medications in a comprehensive medical care setting. Our Goal: To provide Veterans with reliable, evidence-based medication information in an efficient manner so you along with your health care team can make informed decisions about your medications and improve your overall health.

The VA Drug Pricing database contains the current prices for pharmaceuticals purchased by the federal government. These listed prices are based on the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS). This database is mandated by Public Law 102-585, the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, which sets the maximum amount that a drug may be bought for by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The source of this information is contained in printed contracts or data files supplied by the drug manufacturers, representing the pricing agreements between VHA and the manufacturers. Price data is input by the National Acquisition Center (NAC) into the database administered by the Pharmacy Benefits Management Strategic Health Care Group. Information from this database is published on the World Wide Web at the following site: http://www.pbm.va.gov. The users of this database include pharmaceutical manufacturers, drug wholesalers, Office of Inspector General (OIG) and those who purchase pharmaceuticals for the VHA and other government agencies.

The Drug Accountability database collects information on medication dispensed to both inpatient and outpatient Veterans who receive health care from the VA. Information for the Drug Accountability database is extracted from a number of files found within the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) environment. Each month the extracted information is sent via MailMan messages from all VistA systems to the VA Pharmacy Benefits Management (PBM) office in Hines, Illinois. At Hines, quality assurance procedures are performed on the data and local pharmaceutical names are converted to common names before the information is entered into the Drug Accountability database. The users of this database include the PBM, Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs), the Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs), and the VA Research community.