More than 4,000 active‐duty troops and family members who need outpatient mental health care each month aren't getting it, and the Defense Department's (DoD's) Military Health System (MHS) can't come up with an explanation, the Defense Department's inspector general (IG) said in a scathing report, Military.com reported Aug. 14. “An average of 53% (4,415 of 8,328 per month) of all active‐duty service members and their families, identified as needing mental health care and referred to the [Tricare] purchased care system, did not receive care and the MHS did not know why,” according to the report, released Aug. 12. Overall, “We determined that the DoD did not consistently meet outpatient mental health access to care standards for active‐duty service members and their families, in accordance with law and applicable DoD policies,” it adds. In response, Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, the Defense Health Agency director, agreed with the IG's recommendations on staffing, measuring access and treatment outcomes, and developing centralized appointment and booking procedures. In a letter to the IG, Place disagreed with a recommendation to track the reasons for mental health referrals, saying it “would require invasive questioning of beneficiaries, which could increase stigma and reluctance to seek needed care.”