Reports
Search reports, investigative results, and agency plansShowing 71 - 80 of 81 results
Department of Veterans Affairs OIG
Date of Receipt of Claims and Mail Processing During the COVID-19 National State of Emergency
The OIG reviewed the Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) processing of mail and benefit claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the review team examined whether VBA staff documented the date of receipt for benefits-related correspondence as required by new guidance during the national state of emergency and continued mail operations at VA facilities to ensure benefit claims were processed. Based on its sample analysis, the OIG found VBA staff did not properly apply date of receipt documentation guidance for an estimated 98 percent of 3,200 claims established from April 7...
Department of Veterans Affairs OIG
Appointment Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) took measures to protect patients and employees from COVID-19 by canceling face-to-face appointments that were not urgent and converting some of them to virtual appointments. The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) assessed VHA’s appointment management strategies and the status of canceled appointments. The review team found that about five million appointments (68 percent) canceled from March 15 through May 1, 2020, had evidence of follow up or other tracking. Patients completed appointments predominantly by telephone and some by video. Other...
Department of Veterans Affairs OIG
Alleged Deficiencies in the Management of Staff Exposure to a Patient with COVID-19 at the VA Portland Health Care System in Oregon
The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a healthcare inspection to determine the validity of allegations related to the management of staff exposure to a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 at the VA Portland Medical Center (facility) in Oregon. The events under review involved the facility’s first patient diagnosed with COVID-19. The OIG did not substantiate that emergency department staff failed to notify imaging department staff that a patient was suspected to have COVID-19 before sending the patient to the imaging department. At the time of the patient’s transport to the imaging...
Department of Veterans Affairs OIG
Review of Veterans Health Administration’s COVID-19 Response and Continued Pandemic Readiness
On March 26, 2020, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) published its first COVID-19-focused report, OIG Inspection of Veterans Health Administration’s COVID-19 Screening and Pandemic Readiness. In that report, the OIG evaluated how the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) was preparing facilities to meet anticipated rising demands. This report outlines VHA’s continued response to the pandemic and provides VHA leaders’ descriptions of the evolving challenges they faced in caring for veterans and potentially nonveteran patients as well. The OIG engaged leaders from 70 selected facilities in...
Department of Veterans Affairs OIG
Review of Highly Rural Community-Based Outpatient Clinics Limited Access to Select Specialty Care
The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed the accessibility of dermatology, orthopedics, and urology specialty care for patients in the 17 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) classified as highly rural. The OIG also reviewed accessibility, barriers, and the availability and utilization of resources for the time frame March 1, 2018 (or from the date the CBOC became highly rural), through February 28, 2019. VHA utilized clinical consults, electronic consults (eConsults), telehealth, and community care to provide specialty care at the highly...