Press Release
VA Office of Inspector General Releases Administrative Investigation Report Concerning John Thomas Burch, Jr.
VA employee used position for private gain and misused government resources connected to outside employment with veterans’ charity.
Press Release
VA Office of Inspector General Releases Phoenix Consult Mismanagement Report
OIG review finds that the Phoenix VA Health Care System inappropriately discontinued consults for some patients in 2015.
Press Release
Nine South Florida Residents Charged with Stealing Over $800,000 from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Six people charged with veterans federal death benefits fraud.
Oversight Report
Review of Alleged Wait-Time Manipulation at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System
The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) referred allegations concerning the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS) Ocotillo Primary Care Clinic to the VA Secretary in October 2014. These allegations were brought to the OSC by a former SAVAHCS employee who served in the Ocotillo Clinic. The complainant alleged that: Managers improperly directed scheduling staff to “zero out” patient wait times; Ocotillo Clinic physicians were awarded bonuses based in part on wait times; The complainant was excluded from a meeting with the hospital director; The failure to adhere to agency scheduling directives endangered veterans’ health. The VA Office of Inspector General substantiated the OSC complainant’s allegation that managers improperly directed scheduling staff to zero out patient wait times at the Ocotillo Clinic in violation of the agency’s scheduling directive. Review of scheduling data showed 76 percent of appointments in the Ocotillo Clinic had a zero-day wait time from December 2013 through August 2014. According to the Primary Care Nursing Supervisor, as well as several of her nursing staff, SAVAHCS scheduler training taught methods that violated VA’s national scheduling policy. We partially substantiated that, in FY 2013, physicians were awarded bonuses based, to some extent, on appointment availability, including the percentage of patients scheduled within 14 days of their requested date. We found no evidence that Ocotillo Clinic physician performance pay in FY 2014, FY 2015, or FY 2016 was based on wait-time performance. We did not substantiate that the complainant had been excluded from a meeting with the hospital director because the complainant criticized scheduling procedures. Our review of patient care records found one patient who experienced a delay in care that led to a poor outcome. However, we determined that the poor outcome resulted from a lack of communication regarding the need for medical intervention, and not from SAVAHCS’s failure to adhere to agency scheduling directives. We recommended that the VA Southwest Health Care Network Director: Review the training records of all SAVAHCS schedulers to ensure their training is compliant with Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) scheduling policy; Ensure that SAVAHCS schedulers comply with current VHA policy regarding scheduling policies and practices. The Director of VISN 22 concurred with our findings and recommendations, and submitted acceptable corrective action plans. We will follow up on the recommendations to ensure full implementation of all corrective actions.
Press Release
Two Individuals Ordered to Pay Over $4 Million in Restitution For Their Participation in a Conspiracy to Defraud Federal Agencies and Federal Contractors
Two individuals ordered to pay $4 million in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government.
Oversight Report
Audit of VHA’s Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy Program
In September 2015, the Office of Inspector General received a congressional request to conduct an audit of the prescription processing and delivery timeliness for the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP) Program. VHA CMOPs had automated controls and pharmacists in place to ensure pharmaceuticals were secure and safely processed. However, at one of seven CMOPs, the Logistics Officer and Director or Associate Director did not review and approve inventory adjustments from the individual pill dispensing system as required by national policy. This occurred because the Director believed there was a minimal risk for theft and thus did not follow the policy. This CMOP had implemented these controls to minimize the risk for potential loss, theft, and diversion of pharmaceuticals. We determined that more than 99 percent of veterans received their prescription packages within this CMOP’s 10 day timeliness goal. This is calculated from the time the CMOP receives the prescription order to delivery of the package to the veteran. We also found that prescription-tracking information on VA’s My HealtheVet allowed veterans who are VA patients to access their prescription information and track prescriptions filled by CMOPs. Finally, the CMOP Program had quality metrics in place to monitor and address its performance. The Program met the core quality metrics during the period of July 1 through December 31, 2015. However, there were discrepancies with the accuracy of the data reported by the CMOPs to the National Office. We recommended the Under Secretary for Health ensure the CMOP Logistics Officer and Director or Associate Director review and sign all inventory adjustment documentation monthly and the CMOP National Office implement a mechanism to validate self reported data to help ensure the reliability of its core quality metrics. The Under Secretary for Health concurred with our findings and requested closure of the recommendations, based upon the actions taken as a result of our audit. The documentation provided was sufficient to close the recommendations.
Press Release
Navy Veteran Convicted of Making False Statement to Receive Disability Benefit Payments
Navy veteran pleads guilty to making false statements to a VA OIG special agent in an effort to continue receiving disability benefits.