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UPDATE: NEW REPORT SHOWS MARION VA'S BLINDNESS
TO DEPTH OF FACILITY'S PROBLEMS -- This, as VA
Secretary Peake plans to visit Marion hospital
and hold town hall meeting on Saturday.
Marion, Illinois VA
The long and painful story of the problems at the
Marion, Ill. VA continues. For complete background, use the VA
Watchdog search engine... click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessea
rch.php?q=marion&op=and
We have two stories today ... first is about a
new internal VA report ... the second is about Peake's upcoming visit to
the facility.
First story here...
http://www.thesouthern.co
m/articles/2008/09/09/breaking_news/doc48c
703bd1c678746277385.txt
Story below:
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Second report shows Marion VA's
blindness to the depth of problems
BY JOHN HOMAN, The Southern
MARION — The final two parts of Veterans Affairs review of the VA Medical
Center in Marion have been released, further revealing the depths of the
problems that plagued the hospital.
First, the report finds that patient mortality levels increased
significantly as early as April 2007, but the medical center failed to
take sufficient action to find out why.
Second, basic support services were not in place to handle the expansion
of the scope and complexity of surgeries, and there was no appropriate
review process to monitor surgical outcomes.
Finally, the quality manager did not have enough control over the quality
assurance process.
The first part of the three-part report by the Administrative
Investigative Board was released on Aug. 14 and dealt with problems in
leadership at the Marion hospital.
 The
second and third parts of the report released Tuesday make employment
recommendations concerning the former leadership of the facility.
The report, although heavily redacted in some parts, also determined that
network management officials, including Dr. Peter Almenoff:
Were not aware of the poor relationship among Marion management;
Did not receive the facility’s surgery data on a regular basis from the
facility;
Were not aware of external reviews of the facility;
Were not aware of Marion's surgery program expansion.
Almenoff has since been moved from director of the regional network to a
position in Washington where his supervisory duties will be reduced
considerably.
“While part one of the AIB report shined a bright light on the
dysfunctional former management at the Marion VA, parts two and three
highlight the consequences of this broken leadership,” said U.S. Sen. Dick
Durbin, D-Springfield.
“It is inexcusable that the VA's regional network was unaware of Marion’s
widespread management problems, but that appears to be the case,” Durbin
said. “The Marion VAMC needs qualified, long-term leadership to move on
from the tragedies of last year. I look forward to discussing this with
Secretary (Dr. James) Peake on Saturday (in his visit to Marion).”
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Chicago, said the report confirms that a failure
in leadership, a lack of coordination among medical personnel, and a
breakdown of safeguards allowed tragedies to occur at Marion.
“The VA must now make critical leadership changes, add the necessary
safeguards and thoroughly examine its standards at Marion, which I expect
Secretary Peake to review during his visit this weekend.”
U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, said now that the full AIB report
is completed, legislators must continue to move aggressively to make sure
that such mismanagement never happens again.
“This Saturday’s visit by Secretary Peake is a chance for the VA to fully
inform the public about these findings and hear directly from local
residents regarding their ongoing concerns. We will continue to work to
ensure that patient care is the top priority of facility officials.”
U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, said he is looking forward to
discussing solutions to the problems uncovered with Peake.
“I believe this weekend’s visit by the secretary can mark a turning point
for the Marion VA Medical Center,” he said. “We must make sure the care of
our veterans is again the priority at Marion.”
The investigating team was convened to complete a thorough review of
conduct and performance issues related to personnel linked to questionable
quality of care, sexual harassment and promoting a hostile work
environment in Marion.
Efforts to reach Matt Smith, Veterans Affairs spokesman in Washington,
were unsuccessful Tuesday.
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Second story here...
http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/519240.html
Story below:
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VA chief to visit troubled Marion site
The Associated Press
MARION, Ill. -- The head of the nation's Veterans Affairs system will get
a firsthand look at a southern Illinois VA hospital where major surgeries
were halted because of a surge in patient deaths.
Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin's office says VA Secretary James
Peake will tour the Marion VA on Saturday and take part in a town hall
meeting about conditions there.
Investigators say at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March 2007
were deemed "directly attributable" to substandard care at the Marion VA.
Two Kentucky widows are suing the federal government over their husbands'
deaths there.
It's not yet clear when major surgeries will resume at the site.
Durbin is expected to accompany Peake during the trip to Marion.
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