U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL), chairman of the U.S. House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is questioning reported leadership failures at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Eastern Colorado Health Care System in Aurora, Colo.
The congressman wants to “reassure veterans and taxpayers that the Eastern Colorado VA is a facility which provides veterans the safe, quality patient care they have earned,” according to a July 15 letter he sent to VA Secretary Denis McDonough.
Rep. Bost noted that last month he received two VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) and one VA Office of Medical Inspector (OMI) reports highlighting “serious leadership failures” at the Eastern Colorado VA that undermine safety at the facility, thereby possibly putting patients at risk for adverse clinical outcomes.
“Accordingly,” he wrote, “last week I sent my oversight staff to investigate the situation in-person.”
The reports collectively show an Eastern Colorado VA facility “devoid of effective permanent leadership,” wrote Rep. Bost.
For instance, the OIG highlighted how senior leaders at the facility failed to practice high-reliability organization principles that led to a culture of fear and undermined the stability and psychological safety of Eastern Colorado VA staff.
“Specifically, the senior leaders failed to be committed to safety, failed to continuously engage in continuous process improvement, and failed to foster a nurturing environment that emphasized trust and respect, leading to facility employees feeling “psychologically unsafe, deeply disrespected, and dismissed,” he wrote.
Likewise, the OMI report included substantiated allegations and patient safety concerns, including one case that mentioned that an expired implant had been placed in a patient, according to the letter.
“It appears to have taken two explosive Eastern Colorado VA-related OIG reports to motivate the administration to air its dirty laundry with the committee of jurisdiction,” Rep. Bost wrote, requesting that McDonough provide his committee with specific information related to the reports by July 26.
“The Biden-Harris administration must prioritize being forthright about VA’s mistakes with the American public and my Committee, rather than sweeping under the rug failures which directly undercut your claims that VA is the best medical provider for all veterans,” he wrote.