LinkVETS - The Veterans Resource Network

The VA Office of Inspector General conducted a review of six Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) during the week of April 13–17, 2009. The CBOCs reviewed were Bangor and Portland, ME; Conway and Tilton, NH; and Rutland and Colchester, VT. The parent facilities of these CBOCs are VA medical centers in Togus, Manchester, and White River Junction, respectively. The purpose of the review was to assess whether CBOCs are operated in a manner that provides veterans with consistent, safe, high-quality health care. The CBOCs and parent facilities are part of Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 1. The review covered five areas: quality of care measures, credentialing and privileging, environment of care and emergency management, patient satisfaction, and CBOC contracts. In our review, we noted several opportunities for improvement and made recommendations to address all of these issues. VISN and facility management should take appropriate actions on the following recommendations: (1) Initiate providers’ background checks according to policy; (2) Maintain patients’ privacy during the check-in process; (3) Provide proper CBOC access to disabled patients; (4) Conduct fire drills at least annually; (5) Certify all clinical staff holds current Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) certification; (6) Require that clinical managers review the privileges that have been granted to clinic staff and grant privileges that are consistent with providers’ practices; (7) Align contract requirements for licensed independent practitioners with VA requirements; (8) Post signage to inform of unauthorized areas; and (9) Protect patient personally identifiable information in a secure fashion and monitor appropriate shredding practices.\n\r\n\r

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