House panel to investigate care at VA’s nursing homes
Chairman ‘disturbed’ by USA TODAY-Globe report
The House Veterans Affairs Committee launched an investigation into care at the VA’s 133 nursing homes after learning the agency gave almost half of them the lowest possible score in secret, internal rankings.
The inquiry follows an investigation by USA TODAY and The Boston Globe that showed 60 VA nursing homes rated only one out of five stars for quality last year in the agency’s ranking system.
Internal documents obtained by USA TODAY and the Globe revealed that patients in more than two-thirds of VA nursing homes were more likely to suffer pain and serious bedsores than their private-sector counterparts. More generally, VA nursing homes scored worse than private nursing homes on a majority of key quality indicators, including rates of anti-psychotic drug prescription and decline in daily living skills.
Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., applauded the investigation and said he hopes the panel will hold a field hearing in his state, where the VA nursing home in Bedford received one star and rated worse than private nursing homes on 10 of 11 key quality indicators last year, including rates of pain and infection.
“Veterans deserve the best health care in the world. Period. That means having more transparency than private providers, not less,” said Moulton, a former Marine who served four tours of duty in Iraq and gets medical care at the Bedford VA hospital. “The VA is doing many things well, but this is a clear example of where they are failing.”
The VA tracked quality data for years but withheld information from the pub- lic until it received inquiries from the news organizations. The VA then released some quality information and argued its nursing homes provide good care even though residents are typically sicker than those at private facilities.
House VA Committee Chairman Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., ordered the investigation, saying he was “disturbed” by the news reports. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., urged Roe in a letter last month to have his committee examine the “shocking and unacceptable conditions” and adopt “tough disclosure requirements to create greater transparency.”
“A congressional investigation should leave no stone unturned in finding out how this happened in the first place and how it can be prevented in the future,” he wrote.
The committee anticipates holding a hearing this fall and may release more details as the investigation progresses, Roe spokeswoman Tiffany Haverly said.
Agency officials “welcome the committee’s oversight,” VA spokesman Curt Cashour said Monday. “We look forward to informing the committee about the care we provide veterans in our nursing homes and how it compares closely to care in the private sector, even though the department on average cares for sicker patients in its nursing homes than do private facilities,” Cashour said.
The VA operates nursing homes in 46 states that serve about 46,000 veterans annually. The agency has tracked detailed information about the quality of care they provide since at least 2011 and instituted a ranking system in 2016 but kept everything secret until last month.
The VA has contracted for more than a decade with an outside company to conduct inspections of its nursing homes and kept the resulting reports from the public.
The agency banned the public release of the reports in 2009 after the
“Veterans deserve the best health care in the world. Period. That means having more transparency than private providers, not less.”
Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published the findings from one report detailing “significant issues” at the VA nursing home in Philadelphia, including poor resident grooming and pest control. In one case, a patient’s leg had to be amputated after an infection in his foot went untreated for so long his toes turned black and attracted maggots.
The VA said at the time that the reports were internal quality assurance documents “protected” from disclosure under federal law.
Cashour said after receiving inquiries from USA TODAY and The Boston Globe that the VA would release the reports. He said Monday that the agency is working with an outside contractor to remove nursing home residents’ personal information from the inspection reports before releasing them.
Cashour did not say when he expected that would happen. He also didn’t say whether VA would release three years’ worth of reports – the private-sector standard.
Nearly a dozen lawmakers demanded more information from the VA, and several senators co-sponsored legislation that would force the agency to release all nursing home information on an ongoing basis going forward. The Senate passed the measure last month. House lawmakers will have to pass it before it can become law.