In wake of contaminated equipment debacle, VAOIG praises VA's National Patient Safety Program.

by Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org

What the ..... ?

Just days ago, VAOIG won the praise of many veterans by producing a damning report about VA's lack of concern and care while providing endoscopic procedures.  The contaminated equipment report is here and all information on VA's contaminated equipment is here.

Now, VAOIG has released a report praising VA for their National Patient Safety Program:

Healthcare Inspection Evaluation of the Veterans Health Administration’s National Patient Safety Program -- Report Number 08-02075-148, 6/18/2009 | Summary | Report (PDF)

Does this make any sense?

What patient safety? 

The integrity of VAOIG must be called into question.

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Executive Summary

Introduction

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of Healthcare Inspections (OHI) completed an evaluation of the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA’s) National Patient Safety (NPS) Program. The purposes of the evaluation were to determine whether VHA’s NPS Program (1) has been effective in accomplishing its stated goal of preventing inadvertent harm to patients receiving VHA care and (2) has provided efficient and effective coordination, oversight, and continuous improvement.

Results and Recommendations

We concluded that VHA took important, positive steps in 1998 when it expanded existing patient safety activities and created the National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS). VHA’s NPS Program has been the foundation for many national and international patient safety initiatives. We noted several opportunities to strengthen the NPS Program’s effectiveness, oversight, and continuous improvement.

We recommended that the Acting Under Secretary for Health ensure that:

•All relevant patient data sources be assessed for patient safety significance, coordinated across VHA’s quality and safety programs, and used to drive change.

•Organized, coordinated oversight of the NPS Program is systematically provided by either the NCPS or another VHA entity.

•VHA develops a plan to systematically review all aspects of the NPS Program for efficiency and effectiveness and make revisions as appropriate.

Comments

The Acting Under Secretary for Health concurred with the findings and recommendations. The implementation plan is acceptable, and we will follow up until all actions are complete.

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, VAOIG, National Patient Safety Program