This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Care in the Community healthcare inspection program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of community care processes at eight Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 4: VA Healthcare medical facilities with a community care program.
This evaluation focused on five domains:
• Leadership and Administration of Community Care
• Administratively Closed Community Care Consults
• Community Care Provider Requests for Additional Services
• Care Coordination Activities for Patients Referred for Community Care
• Community Urgent Care Coordination and Management
The OIG issued 13 recommendations for VA to correct identified deficiencies in the five domains:
• Leadership and Administration of Community Care
o Community care oversight councils
o Staffing tool reassessments
o Patient safety events
o Patient safety trends, lessons learned, and corrective actions
o Community care document importing
• Administratively Closed Community Care Consults
o Community care appointment confirmation
o Medical documents
• Community Care Provider Requests for Additional Services
o Request processing
o Approval and denial letters for community providers and patients
• Care Coordination Activities for Patients Referred for Community Care
o Community Care–Care Coordination Plan note use to document care coordination activities
o Appointment confirmation
• Community Urgent Care Coordination and Management
o Community Care–Urgent Care Record note creation
Pittsburgh, PA
United States
