Healthcare Inspection: Select Patient Care Delays and Reusable Medical Equipment Review, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Temple, Texas.

摘要

The VA Office of Inspector General Office of Healthcare Inspections conducted an inspection to determine the validity of allegations regarding patient care delays and reusable medical equipment concerns at the Olin E. Teague Veterans Medical Center (facility) in Temple, TX. A complainant alleged that: 1) Hundreds of scheduled gastroenterology (GI), mammogram, radiation oncology, and breast biopsy fee-basis consults dating back to 2009 place the health of patients at risk. 2) Prolonged wait times for GI care lead to delays in diagnosis of colorectal and other cancers. 3) Reusable medical equipment issues have not been properly addressed, including unclean scopes that were almost used on patients, equipment failures, and use of new equipment without an approved standard operating procedure. We substantiated that there are hundreds of fee-basis GI, mammogram, radiation oncology, and breast biopsy consults requiring action; however, we did not find evidence of patient harm due to delays in follow-up actions. We substantiated that there are GI wait times in excess of VHA requirements following initial positive screenings. In addition, staff indicated that appointments were routinely made incorrectly by using the next available appointment date instead of the patient's desired date. These practices led to inaccurate reporting of GI clinic wait times.