VA health care: actions needed to improve oversight of community-based outpatient clinics : report to Congressional requesters
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Government Accountability Office, issuing body. United States. Congress, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, DC : United States Government Accountability Office, April 2018
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Ambulatory Care Facilities Outpatient Clinics, Hospital Veterans Health Government Regulation United States United States. Veterans Health Administration.
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Why GAO did this study. In fiscal year 2016, VHA's 733 CBOCs provided care to more than 3 million veterans at a cost of $5.3 billion. Although most of these clinics are VHA-owned and -operated, 101 are operated through contracts with non-VHA organizations. VHA policy states that CBOCs, whether VHA-operated or contracted, must provide one standard of care that is of high quality. GAO was asked to review VHA's use of contracts to carry out core functions. This report examines, among other issues, the extent to which VHA oversees CBOC operations. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed VHA's policies and CBOC Report. GAO also interviewed officials from VHA's central office and from a nongeneralizable sample of eight CBOCs and their four respective VAMCs and VISNs. The CBOCs were selected for variation in factors such as contract status and geographic area. What GAO Found. Community-based outpatient clinics (CBOC) are an important part of the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) health care delivery system. These clinics are geographically separate from VA medical centers (VAMC) and provide outpatient services, including primary care and mental health care. GAO found weaknesses in VHA's oversight of CBOCs: (1) Incomplete policy implementation. VHA has not implemented certain CBOC oversight requirements as outlined in its policy. Specifically, VHA has not developed guidelines for monitoring the quality and comprehensiveness of care in CBOCs and officials said they have no plans to do so. Officials told GAO they believe the requirement was met as part of their regular oversight of Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN)--regional networks responsible for oversight of VAMCs and CBOCs. However, VHA may miss CBOC performance problems that are not identifiable in VISN-level data. Further, although policy requires VHA central office officials to review CBOC performance as part of quarterly VISN performance reviews, officials said they do not specifically do so unless the VISN identifies a problem. Officials from three of the four VISNs in GAO's review said they largely delegate CBOC oversight to VAMCs, and do not separately review clinic performance unless a VAMC identifies a problem. (2) An inaccurate and incomplete CBOC Report. VHA's CBOC Report is prepared by VHA central office and distributed to VISNs and VAMCs quarterly and at year-end. The CBOC Report could be useful to compare clinical quality of care between VHA-operated and contracted CBOCs, but it is inaccurate and incomplete. Specifically, VHA officials have used their judgment to classify certain sites as CBOCs in the report, rather than use the official classifications in policy. GAO found that 22 percent of sites were incorrectly classified as CBOCs when they were other types of sites, including VAMCs. As a result, the report is of limited usefulness to VHA as an oversight tool. (3) Lack of guidance or training on the CBOC Report. VHA central office officials do not provide guidance or training specific to understanding the CBOC Report to assist VISNs and VAMCs in their oversight of CBOCs. GAO found that in several places in the report, shorthand text and acronyms were used, but not defined. In addition, several VISN and VAMC officials stated that guidance or training would be helpful. (4) No requirement to use the CBOC Report. VHA officials told GAO that VAMCs and VISNs are expected to use the CBOC Report as an oversight tool, but GAO found that VHA lacks a requirement that they do so. Officials from three of the four VISNs and three of the four VAMCs in GAO's review were not using the report. These weaknesses potentially lead to inconsistent oversight and create a risk that VHA is not providing one standard of care that is of high quality to veterans across VHA-operated and contracted CBOCs. What GAO Recommends. GAO recommends that VHA (1) implement oversight requirements that align with existing policy; (2) establish a process to ensure the CBOC Report is accurate and complete; (3) provide guidance or training to VISNs and VAMCs on how to use the CBOC Report; and (4) require use of the CBOC Report as an oversight tool. VA concurred with all of GAO's recommendations and identified actions it is taking to implement them.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (ii, 27 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101765915 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101765915