The Department of Veterans Affairs failed to thoroughly vet medical providers for its community care program, resulting in doctors with revoked or suspended medical licenses being approved to treat veterans, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
The GAO investigated the VA’s community care program, which sends veterans to private-sector doctors in certain situations. When vetting doctors to allow them into the program, the VA was “cutting corners,” the investigation found. The GAO identified 1,600 providers who were ineligible for the program under the VA’s policies but had been accepted into it.
In some cases, the doctors had criminal records or had previously committed health-care fraud.
Hellbound and Down 