Recommendations
2111
| ID | Report Number | Report Title | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20-00102-73 | Handling Administrative Errors at the Chicago VA Regional Benefits Office in Illinois | Review | ||
1 The director of the Chicago VA regional benefits office ensure the errors identified by the review team are corrected.
Closure Date:
2 The director of the Chicago VA regional benefits office monitor the effectiveness of the actions taken to improve the accuracy of administrative error corrections, and determine what additional measures, if any, are needed to make certain that claims processors understand how to apply national and local procedures for correcting administrative errors.
Closure Date:
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| 19-06147-50 | Inadequate Oversight of the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor Program’s Distribution Fee Invoicing | Audit | ||
1 Direct the Medical Supplies Program Office to implement procedures requiring chief logistics officers at Veterans Integrated Service Networks to monitor facility processes for verification and certification of distribution fee invoices to ensure invoice accuracy prior to payment by the Financial Services Center.
Closure Date:
2 Require Veterans Integrated Service Network directors to ensure their chief logistics officers develop distribution fee monitoring and review procedures for facility logistics audits and compliance reviews to ensure invoices are adequately reviewed, verified, and certified.
Closure Date:
3 Require Veterans Integrated Service Network directors to ensure facility chief logistics officers and contracting officer’s representatives review and update the election forms according to contract requirements and provide copies to the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendors for acknowledgment.
Closure Date:
4 Require Veterans Integrated Service Network directors to ensure facility contracting officer’s representatives verify that distribution fee rates match with those on the election forms and pricing schedule by comparing transaction data from the vendors to VHA-maintained transaction data, and reconcile payments as appropriate.
Closure Date:
5 Require the Strategic Acquisition Center to develop and add modifications to the Medical/ Surgical Prime Vendor-Next Generation contract requiring prime vendors to provide reports to VA medical facilities with detailed medical and surgical transaction data, fee amounts, and fee percentage rates applied to each transaction on distribution fee invoices.
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6 Require the Strategic Acquisition Center contracting officer to work with the Medical Supplies Program Office to ensure that Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor contracting officer’s representatives are assigned to each VA medical facility.
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7 Require the Strategic Acquisition Center to appropriately modify the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor contract to define annual facility purchase as well as adding a provision for paying the annual facility purchase amount based on the estimated total spend until year-end reconciliation.
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8 Require the Strategic Acquisition Center to also appropriately modify the Medical/ Surgical Prime Vendor contract to require the prime vendors—rather than the facility—to reconcile to annual facility purchases at the end of the year.
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9 Require the Medical Supplies Program Office to establish policy that clearly defines the source VA medical facilities should use to estimate their annual facility purchase amounts and determine the year-end amounts.
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10 Require VA medical facilities to review their on-site representative fees paid during fiscal year 2018 and future years to ensure they were paid based on the actual annual facility purchase amounts, consistent with the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor-Next Generation contract, and reconcile payment discrepancies as appropriate.
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| 20-00130-86 | Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection of Veterans Integrated Service Network 7: VA Southeast Network in Duluth, Georgia | Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program | ||
1 The Network Director evaluates and determines any additional reasons for noncompliance and ensures the development of a written policy that establishes and maintains a comprehensive environment of care program at the Veterans Integrated Service Network level.
Closure Date:
2 The Network Director evaluates and determines any additional reasons for noncompliance and ensures an annual review of the Emergency and Continuity of Operations Plans; Hazards Vulnerability Analysis; and collective Veterans Integrated Service Network-wide strengths, weaknesses, priorities, and requirements for improvement are submitted to executive leaders for review and approval.
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3 The Network Director evaluates and determines any additional reasons for noncompliance and ensures that the lead Women Veterans Program Manager provides quarterly program updates to executive leaders.
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4 The Network Director evaluates and determines any additional reasons for noncompliance and makes certain the lead Women Veterans Program Manager completes annual site visits at each facility.
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5 The Network Director evaluates and determines any additional reasons for noncompliance and ensures that the lead Women Veterans Program Manager completes assessments to identify staff education gaps related to women’s health and develops or adapts educational programs, materials, and/or resources where gaps are identified.
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6 The Network Director evaluates and determines any additional reasons for noncompliance and ensures that Veterans Integrated Service Network-led facility reusable medical equipment inspection results are posted within the required time frame.
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7 The Network Director evaluates and determines additional reasons for noncompliance and ensures that facility corrective action plans are developed within the required time frame.
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| 20-00421-63 | VBA Did Not Consistently Comply with Skills Certification Mandates for Compensation and Pension Claims Processors | Review | ||
1 The under secretary for benefits creates written guidelines for tracking, identifying, notifying, registering, and exempting individuals required to take skills certification tests.
Closure Date:
2 The under secretary for benefits establishes a tracking mechanism to ensure all eligible individuals required to take tests are identified and notified of testing dates at least 30 days prior to test administration.
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3 The under secretary for benefits provides an update to the plan submitted to Congress explaining why all employees and supervisors who have claims-processing functions listed in the original plan are not subject to skills certification testing.
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4 The under secretary for benefits implements a plan to ensure staff who failed their most recent skills certification test and remain in the same position are provided training from individual training plans to remediate the deficiencies in their skills and competencies.
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5 The under secretary for benefits establishes an oversight plan to ensure training set out in approved training plans is provided to individuals who fail skills certification tests.
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6 The under secretary for benefits notifies Congress of plans to take personnel actions against individuals who fail consecutive skills certification tests after remediation for the same positions in compliance with the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012.
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| 19-06902-23 | The Office of Community Care’s Oversight of Non-VA Healthcare Claims Processed by Its Contractor | Audit | ||
1 The OIG recommended the under secretary for health ensures the Payment Operations and Management directorate reevaluates all sample claims identified in this audit as not processed in accordance with Office of Community Care guidance, and takes appropriate corrective action as needed.
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2 The OIG recommended the under secretary for health ensures there is a contract requirement that the contractor’s employees must follow Office of Community Care guidance for processing non-VA care claims.
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3 The OIG recommended the under secretary for health ensures the contractor’s standard operating procedures for claims processing are accurate and a mechanism is put in place to keep the contractor’s procedures updated to reflect current Office of Community Care claims processing procedures.
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4 The OIG recommended the under secretary for health ensures the Office of Community Care develops and implements clear controls for reviewing and updating, if necessary, the quality assurance surveillance plan requirements at least annually
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5 The OIG recommended the under secretary for health ensures the Payment Operations and Management personnel make full use of the established communication tracking tool.
Closure Date:
6 The OIG recommended the under secretary for health ensures the Payment Operations and Management leaders provide timely training and additional guidance to their staff and the contractor’s employees on applying and using standardized denial and rejection reasons, and employees follow procedures to process claims with no authorizations to ensure consistent and accurate claims processing.
Closure Date:
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| 20-00563-68 | Mammography Program Deficiencies and Patient Results Communication at the Washington DC VA Medical Center | Hotline Healthcare Inspection | ||
1 The Washington DC VA Medical Center Director evaluates documentation processes for entering the Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System as primary diagnostic codes in the electronic health record and takes actions as necessary.
Closure Date:
2 The Washington DC VA Medical Center Director evaluates the processes for notification of mammography exam results by ordering providers and takes actions as necessary.
Closure Date:
3 The Washington DC VA Medical Center Director fully implements action plans for all issues listed in the September 2019 National Radiology Program Office site visit and monitors to completion.
Closure Date:
4 The National Radiology Program Office ensures mammography programs have a comprehensive standard operating procedure manual and confirms compliance.
Closure Date:
5 The Washington DC VA Medical Center Director develops and implements a comprehensive standard operating procedure manual covering critical technical, clerical, and administrative functions for the facility’s Mammography Program.
Closure Date:
6 The Washington DC VA Medical Center Director evaluates the oversight and training processes for the facility’s Mammography Program medical support assistant and takes actions as necessary.
Closure Date:
7 The Washington DC VA Medical Center Director evaluates mammography technology staff training processes and takes actions to ensure mammography technology staff receive training through a formalized program.
Closure Date:
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| 19-07053-51 | Biologic Implant Purchasing, Inventory Management, and Tracking Need Improvement | Audit | ||
1 Provide clarifying guidance and controls to clinic staff on making determinations to send purchase requests and consult notifications to the appropriate purchasing agents.
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2 Provide clarifying guidance to purchasing agents on how to effectively evaluate biologic implant purchase requests for the correct funding source.
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3 Provide clarifying guidance to prosthetic agents to ensure they receive clinic staff consult notifications on all prosthetic purchases of biologic implants.
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4 Create a biologic implant cost code for general-purpose funds to improve funding accountability and potentially assist in ensuring all biologic implant use is tracked.
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5 Direct the Procurement and Logistics Office to clarify guidance on the use of an approved inventory management system specific to biologic implants and the related VHA network, office, and facility staff responsibilities.
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6 Monitor facility compliance with the use of an approved inventory management system for completeness and accuracy.
7 Direct the Procurement and Logistics Office to ensure logistics staff perform inventory reviews of biologic implants, as required.
Closure Date:
8 Monitor medical facility compliance with required reviews of on-site inventory.
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9 Establish a structure for oversight responsibility that can provide guidance for tracking implanted biologics.
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10 Create policies and procedures for facilities to follow as they implement effective controls for tracking biologic implants.
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11 Establish standardized systems and requirements for facility staff to appropriately record necessary biologic implant attributes for accurate and accessible tracking of recipients to advance patient safety.
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| 20-02959-62 | Reporting and Monitoring Personal Protective Equipment Inventory during the Pandemic | Review | ||
1 Provide specific guidance for personnel in facilities and Veterans Integrated Service Network offices to report expired personal protective equipment supplies into the Response Monitoring Tool and refine the tool to allow the entry of expired supply levels on hand.
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2 Communicate effective verification measures for facilities and Veterans Integrated Service Networks to improve the reliability and consistency of reported personal protective equipment on-hand quantity and usage information.
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| 20-00295-61 | VA Needs Better Internal Communication and Data Sharing to Strengthen the Administration of Spina Bifida Benefits | Review | ||
1 The OIG recommended that the under secretary for benefits and the under secretary for health formalize interagency sharing processes between the Veterans Benefits Administration’s Denver regional office and the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Community Care on how data and information will be shared between both offices to prevent payments from continuing to deceased spina bifida beneficiaries.
Closure Date:
2 The OIG recommended that the under secretary for benefits and the under secretary for health take the following actions establish clear written guidance on sharing beneficiary data between the Veterans Benefits Administration’s Denver regional office and the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Community Care to ensure all entitled beneficiaries are enrolled in health care.
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3 The OIG recommended that the under secretary for benefits institute standardized procedures to help the Veterans Benefits Administration’s national call center agents provide accurate and comprehensive information about spina bifida benefits.
Closure Date:
4 The OIG recommended that the under secretary for health direct the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Community Care to develop a process to ensure those beneficiaries who are not using the services for which they are eligible, or need assistance with locating those services, receive them.
Closure Date:
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| 19-09129-76 | VHA’s Response following Cardiac Catheterization Lab Closure at the Samuel S. Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany, New York | Hotline Healthcare Inspection | ||
1 The Under Secretary for Health should publish written guidance that clarifies roles and responsibilities of the national Cardiology program office, Veterans Integrated Service Networks, and Chief Medical Officers to review and opine on interventional cardiologist applicant’s qualifications for employment in those cases when facilities lack local interventional cardiology expertise and the facility’s Chief of Staff seeks subject matter expert opinion.
Closure Date:
2 The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director reviews circumstances that led to the failure
to respond to an OIG request for additional information and alters the person-dependent process
accordingly to ensure future OIG referrals are responded to timely and completely.
Closure Date:
3 The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director reviews circumstances that led to the failure to respond to an OIG request for additional information and alters the person-dependent process accordingly to ensure future OIG referrals are responded to timely and completely.
Closure Date:
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15218