Federal inspectors have ordered the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction to improve its standards for patient care in 24 areas.
The Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs described the issues at the hospital in a report Tuesday. The report was based on a Dec. 5 site visit.
The White River Junction facility must address problems “in the quality, safety, and value program; anticoagulation policies and processes; transfer documentation; moderate sedation care; community nursing home oversight; and management of disruptive and violent behavior.”
Inspectors found five cases in which health care providers gave patients blood clot medications without performing necessary tests first. They also cited 28 cases in which the hospital did not document a patient’s date of transfer in electronic health records. In 15 cases, the hospital did not document informed consent.
When inspectors reviewed records of 46 patients, there were 45 cases in which health care providers “did not include one or more of the eight required elements” for physical examinations that happen before a patient is sedated, according to the report.
There were seven cases in which health care providers “did not document post-procedure assessments of pain levels,” and 10 cases in which “there was no evidence that clinical employees discharged moderate sedation outpatients in the company of a responsible adult,” the report says.
Additionally, the report identified employees whose records did not show that they had training in prevention and management or disruptive behavior, or additional training that the VA requires for their assigned risk area.
The VA Medical Center in White River Junction has 74 beds and provides inpatient, primary care, mental health and substance abuse services to 26,000 patients in Vermont and New Hampshire. The hospital’s annual budget is $223.7 million.
Katherine Tang, the spokesperson for the hospital, said the Office of the Inspector General considers seven of the complaints closed, meaning the hospital has solved them. She said the hospital continues to work on the additional issues.
“Since the December review, we have made substantial progress towards closing out the items identified by (the Office of the Inspector General) as opportunities for improvement at the White River Junction VA Medical Center,” Tang said in a statement.
“To date, we have closed out several of the items and are on track for completing the remainder,” she said. “We continue to work collaboratively with OIG to improve medical center operations and improve the care we provide to our veterans.”
The Office of the Inspector General’s deadline for the hospital to address these issues ranges from Jan. 31, 2017, to March 30, 2018.
