Sen. Jim Inhofe is blocking President Obama’s nominee for inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs until the agency commits to investigating VA medical centers in his state in partnership with an outside private entity.
The Oklahoma Republican announced Monday that he had placed a hold on Michael Missal’s nomination to be inspector general of the beleaguered department. He wants the agency to investigate the Muskogee and Oklahoma City VA medical centers “with the oversight of and in partnership with an outside private entity.”
He suggested the VA inspector general work with the Joint Commission, an independent non-profit organization that accredits and certifies private and veterans hospitals across the nation.
“It’s time for heads to roll for the lack of progress that the Oklahoma’s VA medical facilities have made since Congress passed a sweeping VA reform bill in 2014,” Inhofe said in a statement.
“From the hundreds of cases my office has resolved and the private meetings we’ve had with VA medical staff recently, it is clear that Oklahoma’s VA centers have continued business as usual and are failing to improve care for our veterans,” he said. “It is time for these centers to undergo thorough investigations.”
Inhofe said he has asked the VA’s Office of Inspector General to look into the problems and has been unsatisfied by its “paltry findings that have failed to bring about change.”
In order for Inhofe to lift the hold, he said the Office of Inspector General must commit to a timeline for the investigations and include unannounced visits to the Oklahoma medical centers, as well as a “thorough examination” of the wait times for appointments, accuracy in medical diagnoses, quality of care and after-care, as well as the “judicious use of private medical care and work environment in the hospital.”
At Inhofe’s request, VA authorities sent two teams in November to inspect operations at the Muskogee center and immediately shut down intermediate surgeries at the facility after uncovering “alarming practices,” he said, noting that some personnel have been removed as a result.
It’s also time for the Oklahoma City VA center to get a wake-up call, he said, after five veterans came forward in December about the lack of quality care they were receiving there.
Inhofe said he has requested help from the VA director in charge of hospitals for that region and will be meeting with VA Secretary Robert McDonald soon on those findings.
