Healthcare Inspection Alleged Quality of Care Issues Huntington VA Medical Center Huntington, West Virginia

OIG conducted an inspection in response to allegations that a surgeon had poor infection control practices, a higher incidence of MRSA, altered records to reflect lower procedure blood loss, and performed surgery on a patient who developed significant complications at the Huntington VA Medical Center, Huntington, West Virginia. We did not substantiate allegations made against the surgeon; however, we did identify a lack of integration of infectious disease information between surgical services, NSQIP, Infection Control, and MRSA programs. We recommended that trended and analyzed infection control data be provided to key committee members and clinical managers.