Veteran Oversight Now

In this episode of Veteran Oversight Now, host Fred Baker talks with Shawn Steele, the director of the VA OIG’s Office of Audits and Evaluations Healthcare Infrastructure Division. Taking a very unique approach, 150 OIG staff recently mobilized to evaluate the security posture of 70 VA medical facilities over three days. Persistent police staffing shortages and growing concerns about incidents tha...

In this episode of Veteran Oversight Now, host Fred Baker chats with Dr. Beth Winter, a psychiatrist with the VA OIG’s Office of Healthcare Inspections. They discuss her path from wanting to provide care for exotic animals to choosing to be “a people doctor instead of an animal doctor.” Dr. Winter’s distinguished career eventually led the granddaughter and daughter of veterans to the VA OIG helpin...

The Semiannual Report to Congress summarizes the VA Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) oversight efforts from April 1 through September 30, 2022. For this six-month period, the VA OIG identified more than $1.4 billion in monetary impact for a return on investment of $16 for every dollar spent on oversight—which brings the fiscal year 2022 totals to nearly $4.6 billion in monetary impact for a ret...

Mentioned Investigations:   Former VA Hospital Nursing Assistant Sentenced to Seven Consecutive Life Sentences for Murdering Seven Veterans and Assault with Intent to Commit Murder of an Eighth   Fayetteville Doctor Sentenced To 20 Years In Federal Prison For Mail Fraud And Involuntary Manslaughter   Retail Ready Owner to Forfeit $72M for VA Tuition Fraud

Related Reports: OIG Determination of Veterans Health Administration’s Occupational Staffing Shortages Fiscal Year 2022 Pursuant to the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 (VCQEA), the OIG conducted a review to identify clinical and non-clinical occupations experiencing staffing shortages within Veterans Health Administration (VHA). This is the ninth iteration of the staffing report, and...

Related Reports: Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry Exam Process Needs Improvement Since 1990, some 3.5 million veterans have served in areas that potentially exposed them to airborne hazards and open burn pit toxins, which have been associated with health problems. In 2013, Congress ordered VA to establish a registry to research the potential health impacts of exposures. The VA Office of...

The Office of Investigations investigates potential crimes and civil violations of law involving VA programs and operations committed by VA employees, contractors, beneficiaries, and other individuals. These investigations focus on a wide range of matters including healthcare, procurement, benefits, construction, and other fraud; cybercrime and identity theft; bribery and embezzlement; drug offens...

Related report: Contract Medical Exam Program Limitations Put Veterans at Risk for Inaccurate Claims Decisions Report summary: Given the importance of medical exams to disability claims and the high cost of VA’s contracts with exam vendors, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) set out to determine whether the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) oversaw contract medical disability exams to e...

In this episode of Veteran Oversight Now, guest host Deputy Inspector General David Case joins Dr. Joe Etherage, director of national reporting for the Office of Healthcare Inspections, to discuss three recently released reports on VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization program—a 10-year, multibillion-dollar modernization effort. Since the October 2020 implementation of the system at the Mann...

In this episode of Veteran Oversight Now, Dr. Julie Kroviak, deputy assistant inspector general for healthcare inspections, discusses her journey from medical student to VA doctor to leading teams conducting oversight of VHA. She introduces the new vet center inspection program, detailing how the VA OIG will inspect roughly 300 vet centers over the next few years. This month’s episode concludes wi...

Visit our website to learn more about the work of the VA OIG's Office of Investigations . Report potentially unlawful activity or potential violations of rules or regulations; fraud, waste, and abuse; and gross mismanagement of VA programs and operations to the VA OIG Hotline: Online: https://www.va.gov/oig/hotline/default.asp Phone: 800-488-8244 Monday–Wednesday and Friday between 9:00 a.m. to 4:...

The Semiannual Report to Congress summarizes the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) oversight from April 1 through September 30, 2021. For this period, the VA OIG identified over $2.9 billion in monetary impact for a return on investment of $29 for every dollar spent on oversight. This does not include the inestimable value of the healthcare oversight work completed to advance patient safety and...