All Reports

Facility leaders identify barriers to providers completing toxic exposure screenings and implement actions to ensure providers complete screenings within 30 days of initiation.

Facility leaders ensure each service has a service-level workflow for test result communication that is consistent with VHA requirements.

The Director ensures the Chief of Staff attends Peer Review Committee meetings.

The Medical Center Director ensures staff store clean and soiled utility items separately, maintain cleanliness, and dispose of expired items.

The VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System Director ensures that clinical service chiefs take action to address concerns substantiated in factfindings, and that all patient safety concerns identified in factfindings are reviewed and addressed.

The VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System Director evaluates the need for additional factfinders, and takes action as warranted.

The VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System Director ensures that clinical service chiefs take action timely when aware of patient safety concerns.

The VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System Director reviews the information outlined in this report, determines the need to initiate the state licensing board reporting process, and takes action as warranted.

The VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System Director requires clinical service chiefs and credentialing and privileging managers to receive education on the completion of provider exit review forms and that, when supervisory staff contact credentialing and privileging staff for initiation of the state licensing board reporting process, a process is in place to ensure the message is clear and received.

The VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System Director ensures that clinical service chiefs and staff are educated on the need and process for submitting Joint Patient Safety Reporting reports upon awareness of patient safety events in accordance with facility policy.

The VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System Director educates the Chief of Staff on the need to complete management reviews when warranted, ensures that a review occurs of the dental hygienist’s care of Patient C, and ensures disclosure is provided if warranted.

The VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System Director makes certain that the Chief of Staff utilizes high reliability organization principles and establishes a process for the communication of pervasive concerns regarding a provider’s care.

The Director ensures staff correct deficiencies found during comprehensive environment of care rounds or develop an action plan to address them within 14 business days.

The Director ensures staff conduct fire drills once per shift, per quarter, in each patient area.

Executive leaders ensure staff inspect all medical equipment timely, and equipment has preventive maintenance labels.

Executive leaders ensure staff properly clean patient care areas in the Emergency Department.

Executive leaders ensure staff keep exit pathways free from obstructions.

The Director ensures staff develop service-level workflows for the communication of test results.

The Director ensures staff implement a facility-wide process to monitor providers’ communication of urgent, noncritical test results to patients, and report compliance to an appropriate oversight committee.

Executive leaders ensure staff implement actions from root cause analyses timely, monitor actions for effectiveness and sustained improvement, and report compliance to an appropriate oversight council.

The Director evaluates the patient safety program, including staffing, to ensure executive leaders receive meaningful patient safety information and improvement project data.

Facility leaders implement a standardized process for service-level communication to consistently disseminate information.

Facility leaders ensure Environmental Management Services staff keep patient areas clean and walls intact to minimize the spread of infection.

The Medical Center Director evaluates the allocation of resources to ensure the Housing and Urban Development–Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program meets the needs of the veterans served.

The VA Western New York Health Care System Executive Director ensures that community living center staff complete behavioral notes and conduct behavioral rounds, consistent with system policies regarding behavioral health and administration of antipsychotic medications, monitors for compliance, and takes action as indicated.

The VA Western New York Health Care System Executive Director evaluates community living center nursing staff compliance with system policies regarding the administration of medications, and nursing documentation related to medication refusals, medical provider notification, and residents’ nutritional intake, and takes action as required.

The VA Western New York Health Care System Executive Director reviews the system policy regarding the use of antipsychotic medications in the community living center and considers aligning system policy with Veterans Health Administration’s dementia system of care recommendation to document risk-benefit discussions for all residents receiving pharmacological interventions for dementia-related behaviors.

The VA Western New York Health Care System Executive Director makes certain community living center staff comply with the system policy on fingerstick blood sugar testing, including documenting results and notification to the resident’s provider, and monitors compliance, taking action as indicated.

The VA Western New York Health Care System Executive Director reviews Batavia community living center laboratory processes and takes action as necessary to ensure timely completion of orders.

The VA Western New York Health Care System Executive Director ensures community living center staff enter joint patient safety reports and disclosures, as Veterans Health Administration guides and requires, and in support of high reliability organization principles, and monitors compliance.

The VA Western New York Health Care System Executive Director makes certain the community living center quality assurance performance improvement procedures adhere to Veterans Health Administration requirements, including the use of data to track effectiveness of quality assurance activities, and supports improvement in community living center nursing care. 

The VA Western New York Health Care System Executive Director ensures completion of the chief geriatric physician’s focused professional practice evaluation for cause per Veterans Health Administration requirements.

The VA Western New York Health Care System Executive Director evaluates community living center medical provider staffing to ensure staffing meets patient care needs and takes action as necessary, including continued recruitment to fill vacancies.

The VA Western New York Health Care System Executive Director ensures review of education plans, education needs assessments, and completion of a system dementia education plan as well as initial and ongoing Staff Training in Assisted Living Residences-VA training, as expected, for all community living center nursing staff, and takes action as indicated.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director ensures that social work staff are knowledgeable that 10-10EZR forms can be completed at any time to correct a patient’s financial information and documents are not required to verify financial information.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director reviews the ineffective communication, collaboration, and utilization of available sources of information by social work staff and the enrollment and eligibility supervisor and ensures the ongoing assessment of barriers that could affect patients’ care.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director identifies why postsurgical follow-up care was not coordinated for the patient and takes action as warranted.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director educates emergency department providers on the expectation for identifying the eligibility of each patient who requires admission and the need to obtain Chief of Staff approval if an ineligible patient necessitates care at the facility.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director ensures that inpatient providers are aware of the process to obtain Chief of Staff approval for an ineligible patient to continue care at the facility when clinically indicated.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director reviews the process for note retractions and ensures providers and document specialists are trained on the process.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director ensures that inpatient social workers, providers, transfer coordinators, and nurses are aware that ineligible patients can be transferred from the facility and provides education related to the processes required for approval and facilitation of the transfer.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director monitors compliance with the requirement that discharge paperwork is provided to each patient who is discharged.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director ensures that providers communicate relevant information to community healthcare providers as needed to ensure continuity of care.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director evaluates that staff (inpatient social workers, providers, transfer coordinators, nurses, and the nursing officer of the day) are aware that ineligible patients can be transported from the facility and provides education related to the processes required for approval and facilitation of the transport.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director educates staff on steps to take if attempts to escalate concerns to their supervisors are not adequately addressed.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director reviews the facility’s root cause analysis process, ensures that staff directly involved in an adverse event do not participate in root cause analysis of an event, and considers if another root cause analysis should be completed on this event.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director makes certain that leaders are aware when assigned as responsible for root cause analysis action items and adhere to action plan due dates.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director takes action to ensure that leaders understand and effectively utilize high reliability organization principles noted in this report to identify and correct deficiencies.

The VA New Mexico Healthcare System Director monitors the podiatry residency program for compliance with VHA Directive 1400.01 postgraduate year 1 resident supervision requirements.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures community care oversight councils function according to their charters and meet the required number of times per fiscal year.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care leaders complete the staffing tool reassessment every 90 days.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff enter patient safety events into the Joint Patient Safety Reporting system.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures patient safety managers or designees brief community care patient safety event trends, lessons learned, and corrective actions at community care oversight council meetings.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures staff import all community care documents into patients’ electronic health records within five business days of receipt.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff confirm patients attended their appointments and attempt to obtain community providers’ medical documents prior to administratively closing consults.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff make two additional attempts to obtain community providers’ medical documents within 90 days of the appointment following administrative closure of non-low-risk consults.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff process community providers’ requests for additional services within three business days of receipt.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff send approval or denial letters to community providers for requests for additional services.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff send approval or denial letters to patients for requests for additional services.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff create and use the Community Care–Care Coordination Plan note in the electronic health record to document all care coordination activities for consults with an assigned level of care coordination other than basic.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff confirm patients attended their scheduled community care appointments and received care.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff create the Community Care–Urgent Care Record note in the electronic health record when they receive urgent care documents.

The OIG recommends facility leaders implement tools to help sensory-impaired veterans navigate the facility.

The OIG recommends facility leaders ensure the facility has a policy for test result communication that includes methods to monitor the effectiveness of the patient notification process.

The OIG recommends facility leaders ensure staff develop workflows for the communication of test results for each service.

The OIG recommends the Director ensures staff have processes to prevent repeat environment of care findings.

The OIG recommends the Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 Director monitors for similar or repeated environment of care findings and ensures facility staff sustain improvements.

The OIG recommends the Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 Director ensures facility leaders identify environment of care trends and establish performance improvement plans with outcome measures to address them.

The OIG recommends the Director ensures staff post biological hazard signs on doors where potentially infectious materials may be present.

The OIG recommends the Director ensures staff keep patient care areas clean and safe.

The OIG recommends the Director ensures only authorized staff have access to medication storage areas.

The OIG recommends the Director ensures staff conduct an inventory of all the facility’s medication storage areas, and the Chief of Pharmacy approves them.

The OIG recommends the Chief of Pharmacy ensures pharmacy staff inspect each approved medication storage area monthly.

The OIG recommends the Director ensures staff monitor temperature and humidity in medication storage areas and track possible deviations, even those that may occur when the areas are closed.

The OIG recommends the Director ensures the Brockton VA Medical Center’s Urgent Care Center operates according to VHA Directive 1101.13 and obtains an appropriate waiver from the VHA National Program Office of Emergency Medicine as applicable.

The OIG recommends facility leaders review the local policy to ensure it complies with VHA directives specific to which staff receive notification of critical test results.

The OIG recommends facility leaders develop and implement a plan to address veterans’ unanswered phone calls.

The OIG recommends the Associate Director ensures staff identify environment of care trends and establish performance improvement plans with outcome measures to address them.

The OIG recommends the Associate Director ensures the manufacturer satisfies contractual requirements to perform preventive maintenance for beds and stretchers and documents the service.

The OIG recommends the Veterans Integrated Service Network Director works with facility and primary care leaders to address the network call center’s effect on primary care team efficiency and workload and reduce the risk of adverse patient safety events.

The St. Cloud VA Medical Center Director completes a comprehensive review of surgical service credentialing and privileging processes, ensures facility policy and practice in alignment with Veterans Health Administration policy, and as necessary, consults with Veterans Integrated Service Network leaders, and monitors for compliance.

The St. Cloud VA Medical Center Director reviews the processes specific to ongoing professional practice evaluations, ensures alignment with Veterans Health Administration policy, including surgical service chief consideration of the use of specialty-specific metrics, including surgical procedures performed in the operating room, and monitors compliance.

The St. Cloud VA Medical Center Director completes a review of Medical Staff Executive Council meeting minutes, specific to focused and ongoing professional practice evaluations for the surgical service chief, identifies deficiencies, and takes action as warranted to ensure completion according to Veterans Health Administration requirements.

The St. Cloud VA Medical Center Director, in conjunction with Veterans Integrated Service Network leaders, ensures that Veterans Health Administration state licensing board reporting processes are followed for surgeon A consistent with Veterans Health Administration Directive 1100.18.

The OIG recommends facility leaders develop and implement a plan to resolve infrastructure issues that affect patient care.

The OIG recommends facility leaders develop and implement a plan to resolve veterans’ unanswered phone calls and inability to reach staff.

The OIG recommends facility leaders replace the emergency call boxes in the parking garage to ensure they are active and functioning.

The OIG recommends facility leaders update local policies and memorandums related to communication of test results.

The OIG recommends the Director ensures the Chief of Staff conducts institutional disclosures for applicable adverse events.

The OIG recommends facility leaders take additional actions to obtain manageable panel sizes per VHA guidelines and ensure patients have access to high-quality care.

The OIG recommends facility leaders evaluate and improve processes for medical clearance of veterans who participate in the Compensated Work Therapy program.

The OIG recommends facility leaders determine appropriate supply storage locations, and for any supplies stored outside these defined locations, implement a process to ensure staff identify and remove expired supplies.

The OIG recommends facility leaders ensure video laryngoscope supplies are readily available and not expired.

The OIG recommends the Director ensures staff keep patient care areas clean and safe.

The OIG recommends the Director ensures staff complete required preventive maintenance for biomedical equipment.

The OIG recommends facility leaders develop service-level workflows and processes to monitor communication of test results to patients.

The OIG recommends facility leaders ensure all veterans and visitors, including those who require mobility assistance, have safe and accessible pathways to clinical areas during elevator repairs.

The OIG recommends facility leaders ensure staff complete and document preventive maintenance for medical equipment.

The OIG recommends the Chief of Staff and the Associate Director, Patient Care Services ensure staff record their attendance at meetings where staff monitor the communication of test result data.

The OIG recommends the Under Secretary for Health evaluates facility leaders for appropriate supervisory behavior and professional communication and takes actions as needed.

The OIG recommends the Under Secretary for Health determines whether the Veterans Integrated Service Network Director and other Veterans Integrated Service Network leaders were aware of, but did not address, facility leaders’ unprofessional behavior and communication, and takes actions as needed.

The OIG recommends the Under Secretary for Health ensures the Veterans Integrated Service Network and facility directors oversee the inventory management system, resolve medical supply deficiencies, and monitor actions for sustained improvement.

The OIG recommends facility leaders develop action plans to ensure providers communicate test results to patients timely.

The OIG recommends the Under Secretary for Health directs the national VHA Quality and Patient Safety Program staff to review the facility’s quality management program and determine whether actions by facility and Veterans Integrated Service Network leaders effectively addressed system issues affecting patient safety, including nursing leaders’ lack of access to safety reports, and missed opportunities for institutional disclosures, and takes action as needed.

The OIG recommends the Associate Director of Operations ensures staff maintain, inspect, and test medical equipment.

The OIG recommends the Deputy Chief of Staff ensures staff secure all medications from unauthorized access.

The OIG recommends the Associate Director of Patient Care Services ensures staff appropriately store oxygen tanks.

The OIG recommends the Associate Director ensures staff clean all food storage areas.

The OIG recommends the Associate Director of Operations ensures staff remove expired supplies from storage areas.

The OIG recommends the Associate Director of Operations ensures staff mark equipment that needs repair and separate it from equipment available for use and remove dirty items from clean storage areas.

The OIG recommends facility leaders ensure sustained compliance with Joint Commission accreditation standards.

The OIG recommends executive leaders evaluate the toxic exposure screening process and develop a sustainable action plan to ensure staff complete secondary screenings.

The OIG recommends executive leaders ensure facility staff conduct all required monthly and annual fire extinguisher inspections, document the completion date and results, and report compliance rates to the Comprehensive Environment of Care Committee.

The OIG recommends executive leaders ensure facility staff complete preventive maintenance inspections for all medical equipment.

The OIG recommends executive leaders ensure facility staff develop and implement processes to properly disinfect wheelchairs, remove dust from ceiling vents, and repair walls.

The OIG recommends executive leaders ensure facility staff keep clean and dirty equipment and supplies separated in storage areas and ensure staff can access medical equipment when needed.

The OIG recommends executive leaders ensure facility staff use video monitors for patient safety purposes only and limit them to staff directly involved in the patient’s care.

The OIG recommends Veterans Integrated Service Network leaders ensure facility executive leaders provide effective oversight of the environment of care program.

The OIG recommends executive leaders ensure quality management staff implement a system-wide process to monitor the effectiveness of patient notification of all urgent, noncritical test results.