OIG is vets’ watchdog

#Middlebury #Veterans

You have to admire the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (VAOIG). If there’s something illegal going on, they will find it.

In one case, the doctor said that, no, she had never prescribed anything without first speaking to the patient over the phone to ensure that the drug or equipment was required. The VA OIG didn’t just take her word for it, though. It dug around and unearthed the truth: The doctor in Dallas had committed telemedicine fraud against federal insurers including Medicare, Tricare and CHAMPVA by repeatedly ordering products without ever talking to the patient. The result: She’ll have to forfeit $33,000 in fees she took for telemedicine visits she didn’t do and pay a $180,000 fine. Later, at sentencing, she could be sent to the slammer for five years.

In another case, the VAOIG investigated a urologist who had “severe hand tremors and possibly low visual acuity” to determine whether facility leaders had evaluated him and his continued clinical privileges with the VA. The OIG also discovered an additional concern: whether facility leaders had followed directives to report the surgeon to the appropriate state licensing boards.

The answer: No, facility leaders had not overseen the problem of hand tremors and low visual acuity; no, he hadn’t been reported to licensing boards; and no, nobody had made recommendations about the surgeon’s privileges. Meanwhile, veterans had invasive urological procedures done by a doctor with shaky hands and bad vision.

Not all OIG cases are so serious, but they do merit attention. In one case, managers of a patient account center used government money to buy refreshments for employees in connection with a VA Diversity and Inclusion Initiative event. However, VA policy says they can buy food for cultural events that raise awareness of ethnic history only if the food is a sample of that culture and is meant to be educational.

© 2020 King Features Synd. Inc.

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