Another patient has died while waiting for treatment from a Department of Veterans Affairs facility, according to a government probe of renewed whistleblower accusations.
The Office of Health Care Inspections “found that this patient never received an appointment for a cardiology exam that could have prompted further definitive testing and interventions that could have forestalled his death,” according to a new report from the VA inspector general.
That audit produced a better record than investigators expected, having been given a list that suggested 87 patients had died while waiting for care. But the audit substantiated other allegations, including claims that the staff at a VA facility in Phoenix, Ariz., “inappropriately discontinued” dozens of consultations and that thousands of patients have been waiting for longer than 30 days to see a doctor.
“More than two years after the Phoenix VA Health Care System became ground zero for VA’s wait-time scandal, many of its original problems remain, and this report is proof of that sad fact,” House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said in response to the report.
The IG emphasized that the latest round of complaints were filed one year after it closed its original report on “patient care delays” at the Phoenix facility. “[A]bout 4,800 patients had nearly 5,500 consults for appointments within PVAHCS that exceeded 30 days from their clinically indicated appointment date,” the new report found. “In addition, more than 10,000 patients had nearly 12,000 community care consults exceeding 30 days.”
One patient “waited in excess of 300 days for vascular care,” but that was partly because the patient missed the originally scheduled appointment, according to the inspector general.
“Facility staff then made multiple attempts to contact the patient and provided care to the patient in October 2015,” the report said. “As of August 12, 2015, we identified 13 open consults of patients waiting for Vascular Lab more than 30 days beyond the clinically indicated date of the provider, ranging from 32 to 157 days.”
Although Miller welcomed the report’s update on the status of healthcare provided to veterans, he faulted the inspector general for failing to identify clearly the leaders responsible for the lengthy wait-times.
“Although the report’s extensive use of confusing bureaucratic parlance makes digesting the IG’s findings a tedious chore, it’s clear veterans are still dying while waiting for care, that delays may have contributed to the recent death of at least one veteran and the work environment in Phoenix is marred by confusion and dysfunction,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, given that this report is largely devoid of clear lines of accountability to those responsible for Phoenix VAHCS’s current problems, it is unlikely these issues will be solved anytime soon.”
