Where are the VA's drugs? VAOIG says VA can't account for 8% of non-controlled drug inventory.

by Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org

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The VA's Office of Inspector General (VAOIG) has issued two recent reports about the terrible inventory control problems at VA pharmacies.

Audit of VA Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy Inventory Accountability -- Report Number 08-02730-133, 5/28/2009 | Summary | Report (PDF)

That report prompted the following article:

VA'S MAIL PHARMACIES CAN'T ACCOUNT FOR DRUG INVENTORY (05-29-09)   VAOIG says VA's mail pharmacies cannot accurately account for their inventory or calculate an accurate shrinkage rate.

The second report:

Audit of Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy Contract Management -- Report Number 09-00026-143, 6/10/2009 | Summary | Report (PDF)

And, that report was covered in the following article:

VA'S MAIL PHARMACIES MISMANAGING CONTRACTS (06-12-09)   VAOIG finds that VA's mail pharmacies could be overpaying more than $40 million for contract services.

Now, the VAOIG has appeared before Congress to testify about the two reports:

Statement of Belinda J. Finn, Assistant Inspector General for Audits and Evaluations, Office of Inspector General, Department of Veterans Affairs before the Subcommittee on Health, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, United States House of Representatives Hearing on "Is the VA Meeting the Pharmaceutical Needs of Veterans? An Examination of the VA National Formulary, Issues of Patient Safety, and Management of the Pharmacy Benefits Program" on September 22, 2009 -- 9/22/2009 | View Statement/Testimony (PDF)

Just the first two paragraphs in the FINDINGS section of the testimony will make you cringe:

VHA cannot accurately account for its non-controlled drug inventories because it has neither implemented nor enforced sufficient controls to ensure pharmacy inventory practices are standardized and pharmacy data is accurate. Furthermore, VHA does not currently require its facilities to monitor any non-controlled drugs on an ongoing basis.

We found that both CMOPs and VHA medical facilities maintain inventory management controls and use systems of inventory control that rely upon annual physical counts of drugs. However, we identified significant weaknesses in how well the facilities perform physical counts and adjust inventory records.

Be sure to read the entire testimony here ...
View Statement/Testimony (PDF)

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, VAOIG, pharmacies, inventory