Three of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs medical facilities incorrectly approved travel reimbursements in 2014 that cost taxpayers an estimated $37,400, a recent report found.
The VA inspector general began investigating three of the agency’s healthcare facilities following allegations that staffers were making errors when processing information for the Beneficiary Travel Program, which allows veterans to receive reimbursement for travel costs to a VA facility that offers the care they need.
The three facilities—located in New York, Virginia, and Kentucky—improperly approved reimbursements for beneficiaries in the 2014 calendar year that cost an estimated $37,400, the inspector general concluded after conducting reviews of a sample of vouchers from each facility.
The Hudson Valley Health Care System alone improperly approved $27,200 in travel reimbursements for calendar year 2014, investigators estimated. Staffers at the Hudson Valley system made at least one error each processing 17 of the 45 vouchers reviewed, meaning that mistakes were made 38 percent of the time. The 45 vouchers were taken randomly from the 23,668 vouchers approved for travel reimbursements for the second half of 2014.
The $27,200 in improper reimbursements represented more than 6 percent of the $438,000 paid out in vouchers for travel between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2014.
The inspector general also found similar evidence of improper travel reimbursements at the Hampton VA Medical Center in Virginia and the Lexington VA Medical Center in Kentucky. At the Hampton facility, errors were made processing 21 percent of the vouchers reviewed, which resulted in $9,700 worth of reimbursements being wrongly approved in 2014, investigators estimated. Errors were made less often at the Lexington hospital, leading the inspector general to project that $500 was improperly reimbursed.
Errors made across the facilities involved incorrectly calculating the travel mileage for which beneficiaries needed to be reimbursed. In other instances, VA staff approved travel reimbursements without evidence that the beneficiary actually traveled to and completed the appointment in question. Staffers also handed out travel vouchers to beneficiaries who did not travel to the closest VA facility offering the care they needed.
The inspector general faulted management at the hospitals for not ensuring that staff had proper, formal training for the Beneficiary Travel Program. Further, managers failed to implement reviews to make sure that staffers were evaluating reimbursement claims in accordance with VA policy.
Staffers also did not use technology developed by the agency to make sure that the reimbursements were accurate.
While each travel reimbursement cost under $26 on average, the inspector general noted that the cost to taxpayers could prove "significant" if similar errors were detected at VA facilities nationwide.
"In addition, if the facilities within the Hudson Valley HCS, Hampton VAMC, and Lexington VAMC do not take steps to ensure BTP mileage reimbursements are made accurately and in accordance with policy, taxpayer funds will continue to be spent unnecessarily," the report concluded. "Furthermore, the facilities will continue to make improper payments to beneficiaries that the medical facilities could use for other medical care or services."
Dan Caldwell, the legislative and political director for Concerned Veterans for America, suggested that similar issues might occur at VA facilities across the country.
"If past scandals at the VA are any indicator, this is only the tip of the iceberg and I would not be surprised if these problems are more widespread than just three facilities," Caldwell said on Monday.
Problems at the VA’s network of health systems have persisted since the agency began to receive increased scrutiny following the fake waiting list scandal last year. An independent assessment released in September concluded that the Veterans Health Administration is plagued by "crises in leadership and culture" and needs a "system-wide reworking."