Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General

The VA OIG acknowledges the challenges of operating VA medical facilities, especially in a rural environment in which many patients qualify for community care based solely on where they live. In Montana VA Healthcare System that amounts to about 74% of its 34,479 patients. To assist leaders in evaluating the care delivered, we conducted a review of community care utilization, delivery of timely care, and provider qualifications for fiscal year 2022. We made five recommendations: https://lnkd.in/gqQiYZKt   #VA #OIG #Veterans #oversight

The VA OIG reviewed the Veteran Self-Scheduling (VSS) process for Integrated Veteran Care. VSS allows eligible veterans to schedule their appointments directly with community providers once they receive an authorization for a community care provider and an approved consult from VA. We determined VHA needs to improve its oversight of the VSS process to strengthen support and mitigate the risk of potential misuse of the scheduling option. For example, we found facilities were processing VSS consults inappropriately by opting veterans into VSS without their permission. Read more about the other findings and eight recommendations: https://lnkd.in/g4_waqFf   #veterans #VA #OIG #oversight

In February 2025, the VA OIG testified three time before the #HVAC and published seven oversight reports on VA programs and operations, including community care network outpatient claim payments, a financial inspection at the VA Tampa Healthcare System, and a Healthcare Facility Inspection report on the VA Salem Healthcare System in Virginia. VA OIG investigations led to the sentencing of a former VA doctor who illegally distributed more than 1.8 million doses of opioids and a engaged in a $5 million healthcare fraud scheme and a Texas pharmacy owner who conspired with doctors to charge government agencies for medically unnecessary compound prescriptions, pain creams, scar gels, and multivitamins. Click the link for all oversight highlights from February. https://lnkd.in/eT5Acm5h #oig #va #veterans #oversight

Following several allegations, the VA OIG initiated a review to evaluate whether the supply chain management staff at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas, established and maintained inventory controls in accordance with VA policy. We found that the staff did not ensure accurate recording and accountability of expendable supplies, nonexpendable equipment, and implants in the inventory management systems, risking the loss of supplies or use of expired products for patient care. Read more about our findings: https://lnkd.in/ghEU--VX #veterans #VA #OIG 

A subcontractor paid $1.1 Million in restitution and penalties for stealing COVID-19 relief funding. His company, BNL Technical Services, is paying $493,865 in restitution. Check out all the OIG’s investigative updates at  https://lnkd.in/g-kBhd5m.   #Fraudfighters #VA #OIG #veterans

The VA OIG physically inspected the VA Washington DC Healthcare System and made four recommendations for improvement. The report highlights the facility’s staffing, environment, unique opportunities and challenges, and relationship to the community and veterans served. Get the results: https://lnkd.in/g7u2i3Er #veterans #VA #OIG

Dehshid “David” Nourian, of Plano, was sentenced to 17 years in prison, ordered to pay over $115 million in restitution, and forfeit $405 million in assets for his role in a $145 million scheme to defraud the Department of Labor through the submission of fraudulent claims for prescriptions. Nourian and others owned and operated pharmacies and throughout the scheme, they paid doctors millions of dollars in illegal bribes and kickbacks for referring expensive compound medications to be filled by those pharmacies. Evidence at trial showed these compounds were mixed in the back rooms of the pharmacies by untrained teenagers at a cost to the defendants of around $15 per prescription and then billed to the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs for as much as $16,000 per prescription. Get more details about the case: https://lnkd.in/g-kBhd5m #veterans #VA #OIG

Raheel Naviwala, of Coral Springs, Florida, was convicted for a $100 million durable medical equipment scheme. Naviwala purchased contact lists of Medicare patients’ and hired telemarketers to convince the patients to get orthotic braces. These telemarketers pre-filled prescriptions and picked the highest-paying braces to bill to insurers. Naviwala then paid doctors to sign the pre-filled prescriptions for braces, regardless of medical necessity. Naviwala is scheduled for sentencing in July. More details: https://lnkd.in/g-kBhd5m Check out our latest fraud alert about durable medical equipment scams: https://lnkd.in/gQRQVNsv #veterans #VA #OIG

Fraud Alert! Help Stop Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Scams. DME fraud involves billing for equipment that is medically unnecessary or was never provided to patients. Examples of DME include orthotics, catheters, oxygen and dialysis equipment, glucose monitoring systems, wheelchairs and other mobility aids, or other medical devices used repeatedly for long periods. Veterans, caregivers, and VA personnel, learn how to spot the signs and report fraud to the VA OIG: https://lnkd.in/gQRQVNsv #VA #OIG #veterans #FraudAlert

While conducting a routine healthcare inspection at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin, Georgia, the VA OIG learned of an incident in which a “rectal tray” that had been reprocessed by sterile processing services included surgical instruments that were pitted, stained, and tarnished. We opened a healthcare inspection to determine how surgical instruments that were not suitable for service were used during a patient procedure. Get the findings: https://lnkd.in/gnhbg9St The VA OIG also released Healthcare Facility Inspection of the VA Dublin Healthcare System in Georgia. We made eight recommendations for improvement: https://lnkd.in/gEqVBWFE #veterans #VA #OIG www.vaoig.gov