BECKLEY, W.Va. — The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General released a report Friday, in which six VA hospitals, including the facility in Beckley, were cited for insufficiently utilizing state prescription drug monitoring program databases to coordinate and manage patient care, specifically regarding the use of opioids for pain management.
Among a random sample of veterans at each facility, a 12-month audit of electronic medical records found VA clinicians failed to perform required annual queries of state prescription monitoring programs for 73 percent of patients being prescribed opioids, as required by the Veterans Health Administration. Of the 30 patient records reviewed at the Beckley VA Medical Center, the audit found clinicians did not perform the necessary tests in 53 percent of the cases.
The review period began in April 2017 and ended in March 2018, with an audit of the medical records of 567,000 patients at VA care centers in West Virginia, Ohio, Florida, Idaho, California and Texas.
The report noted veterans are more likely to die from opioid overdoses than are civilians.
Based on the findings, the Office of Inspector General recommended the creation of a national program to facilitate improved oversight of, and communication with, all VA medical facilities by the VHA, which established opioid prescription management protocols in 2013.
A spokesperson for the Beckley VAMC issued the following response to the report:
“The Beckley VA Medical Center has taken steps to ensure staff follows VA guidelines and receives training specific to controlled substances and monitoring their use. In fact, from 2012 to 2018, the facility has reduced opioid prescriptions by 42 percent.”