Deaths at VA Homes Linked to Gaps in Federal Oversight

WASHINGTON (AP) — Big gaps in federal oversight of long-term care facilities for aging veterans may have contributed to rampant coronavirus infections and more than 200 deaths at state-run homes, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The GAO found the Department of Veterans Affairs failed for years to require robust inspections at more than 150 state-run veterans homes nationwide and to make sure deficiencies were rectified, even as it regularly doled out federal dollars for the care.

That could have made a bad situation worse in places like the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, one of 50 veterans homes nationwide where VA is the only federal agency monitoring it, according to the GAO. A recent investigation conducted for the state of Massachusetts found the superintendent there was not qualified to run a long-term care facility, and that officials with a state agency were aware of his “shortcomings,” but failed to do enough about it.

By law, VA is barred from making federal payments until facilities meet standards of quality care.

“VA needs to continue to strengthen its oversight,” Sharon Silas, director of health care at the GAO, told a House panel Wednesday. Her team is conducting a wider investigation of VA’s oversight into the facilities in light of surging coronavirus deaths.

https://www.courthousenews.com/deaths-at-va-homes-linked-to-gaps-in-federal-oversight/