WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs has unveiled a new website aimed at providing information on the quality of care at VA medical centers, touting new accountability even as it grappled with fresh questions of patient safety in its beleaguered health system.
The VA website, www.accesstocare.va.gov, is a work in progress. It provides preliminary data on the VA’s 1,700 health facilities, along with more than a dozen private-sector hospitals and national averages. Three years after a wait-time scandal at the Phoenix VA medical center, the website offers comparative data on wait times as well as veterans’ satisfaction ratings in getting timely appointments.
It comes at a time of change at the VA, after President Donald Trump promised during his 2016 campaign to give veterans more choices between VA and private-sector hospitals to receive the best care possible. On Wednesday, fresh problems at the government’s second largest agency emerged after the VA inspector general’s office released a report finding patient safety issues at the VA medical center in Washington D.C.
The urgent, preliminary report by inspector general Michael Missal pointed to poor inventory practices that put patients at risk, from dirty storage areas for syringes to lack of checks to remove medical equipment and supplies that had been subject to safety recalls. The findings prompted the VA to announce that it had relieved the facility’s director in Washington D.C., Brian Hawkins, of his duties.
Poonam Alaigh, the VA’s acting undersecretary for health, told The Associated Press that she had decided to reassign Hawkins to VA headquarters after reviewing the IG’s report and indicated he could be subject to disciplinary action pending a fuller investigation. In the meantime, VA senior adviser Lawrence Connell has been named acting director for the Washington D.C. medical center.
Alaigh said the VA was adopting immediate fixes and that she would order a broader review of the VA health system for similar patient safety issues.
“When it’s about patient safety, it warrants immediate action,” Alaigh said. “There should not be a situation where a veteran can be harmed.”
