VA Health Care: Actions Needed to Improve Monitoring and Oversight of Non-VA and Contract Care
Released: 2015-06-01T00:00:00

Letter

Background

Non-VA Medical Care Program

There are two main non-VA medical care delivery methods— preauthorized care and emergency care—that are approved using two different processes. The first, preauthorized care, is approved in advance by VA facility officials. VA may authorize veterans to seek care from non- VA providers for a number of reasons, including when (1) wait times for appointments at VA facilities exceed VA standards; (2) the distance veterans must travel to VA facilities is impractical for the veteran; and (3) VA facilities do not offer the medical services the veteran needs. Preauthorized care accounts for the majority of spending and utilization (about 60 percent of spending and about 88 percent of utilization) for the Non-VA Medical Care Program. The second, emergency care, is not typically approved in advance by VA facility officials and has certain criteria that must be met in order for VA to approve reimbursement for the non-VA provider. (See table 1.)

Preauthorizing non-VA medical care involves a multistep process conducted by the VA facility that regularly serves a veteran. The preauthorization process is initiated by a VA provider who submits a request for non-VA medical care to the VA facility’s non-VA medical care unit, which is an administrative department within each VA facility that processes VA providers’ non-VA medical care requests and verifies that non-VA medical care is necessary. Once approved by the VA facility’s Chief of Staff or his or her designee, the veteran is notified of the approval and can choose any non-VA provider willing to accept VA payment at predetermined rates. (See fig. 1.)

VA Clinical Contracting

Both acquisition and clinical staff at VA work together to plan, execute, and monitor clinical contracts at VA. On the acquisition side, contracting officers (CO) are responsible for planning, awarding, and administering contracts on behalf of the federal government. Each CO is authorized to obligate federal funds up to a specified limit and a CO must formally approve all clinical contracts at VA. Common tasks of a CO include developing acquisition planning documents used to begin a clinical contract, conducting market research to determine pricing and availability for a clinical contract, and completing the formal competitive or non- competitive solicitation process for contracts. Each CO works within a network contracting office and is overseen by managers within that office who report directly to VA Central Office. There are 21 network contracting offices throughout VA’s health care system that manage all the contracting activities of a single VISN.

For each VA clinical contract, the CO responsible for the contract designates a contracting officers’ representative (COR) at the VA facility to help develop the clinical contract and monitor the contract provider’s performance once the provider begins work. Common tasks delegated to the COR include providing input on the performance requirements for the clinical contract, determining how the contract provider’s performance will be measured and monitoring performance once work has begun, validating the contract provider’s invoices to ensure their accuracy, managing contract modifications, and assisting the CO in resolving any issues that may arise with the contract provider. At VA, CORs are commonly administrative personnel responsible for managing the operations of a specialty care line at a VA facility—such as primary care and surgery—where the contractor will be working. CORs are responsible for maintaining the official record of the contract provider’s performance and providing official performance assessments to the CO.

VA Central Office has primary responsibility for overseeing network contracting offices and manages clinical contracting activities through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Procurement and Logistics Office. There are five primary offices within the VHA Procurement and Logistics Office that are responsible for overseeing various aspects of clinical contracting activities and report to VHA’s Deputy Chief Procurement Officer. (See fig. 3.)

Medical Sharing Office. The Medical Sharing Office is responsible for providing guidance to network contracting offices regarding the content and structure of solicitations for clinical contracts and for reviewing several types of clinical contracts. The Medical Sharing Office reviews solicitations of all competitive clinical contracts valued at over $1.5 million, all non-competitive clinical contracts valued at over $500,000, and all organ transplant contracts.

All Medical Sharing Office reviews are conducted before a solicitation is issued to ensure that all the necessary provisions are in place prior to any competition or award.

Procurement Operations Office. The Procurement Operations Office is responsible for providing ongoing guidance and monitoring of the COR population at VA. The Procurement Operations Office conducts reviews of COR files and publishes a COR newsletter.

Procurement Audit Office. The Procurement Audit Office is responsible for ensuring compliance with VA policies and procedures related to contracting. This office conducts internal compliance audits of contracts, including clinical contracts, once they are executed to ensure that all required documentation was included in the final contract and audits the activities of network contracting offices and Service Area Offices (SAO) to ensure their compliance with VA policies and regulations.

Procurement Policy Office. The Procurement Policy Office is responsible for providing guidance to VA’s acquisition workforce in network contracting offices and SAOs. This office produces and updates standard operating procedures for CORs and COs.

Service Area Offices. SAOs are the regional contract management entities created to oversee the activities of the 21 network contracting offices and the COs and supervisors that work within them. VHA created three SAOs—East, West, and Central—to manage the contracting activities of six to eight VISNs each. SAOs review solicitations for most clinical contracts during their initial stages to ensure that all necessary provisions are in place prior to any competition or award.

Significant Weaknesses Exist in VA’s Monitoring and Oversight of Non-VA Medical Care

VA Lacks Critical Data on Wait Times and Cost- Effectiveness of Non-VA Medical Care

As our recent work has found, critical data limitations related to the wait times veterans face in obtaining care from non-VA providers and the cost- effectiveness of such services hinder VA’s efforts to oversee the Non-VA Medical Care Program in an effective manner.

VA does not collect data on how long veterans must wait to be seen by non-VA providers. We previously found that the amount of time veterans wait for appointments in VA facilities influenced VA’s utilization of non-VA medical care. For example, in our May 2013 report, VA officials from all six facilities we reviewed reported that they routinely referred veterans to non-VA providers to help ensure that veterans receive timely care and their facilities meet performance goals for wait times for VA facility-based care. Officials from one of these VA facilities explained that veterans needing treatment in several specialties—including audiology, cardiology, and ophthalmology—were referred to non-VA providers for this reason.

In fiscal year 2012, VA performance goals for wait times for care in VA facilities called for veterans’ primary care appointments to be completed within 7 days of their desired appointment date and veterans’ specialty care appointments to be scheduled within 14 days of their desired appointment date. However, since VA did not track wait times for non-VA providers, we found that little was known about how often veterans’ wait times for non-VA medical care appointments exceeded VA facility-based appointment wait time goals. Officials from one VA facility we reviewed explained that non-VA providers in their community also faced capacity limitations and may not be able to schedule appointments for veterans any sooner than the VA facility.

We recommended in May 2013 that VA analyze the amount of time veterans wait to see non-VA providers and apply the same wait time goals to non-VA medical care that have been used to assess VA facility- based wait times. VA concurred with this recommendation and detailed its plan to create a national consolidated monthly wait time indicator to measure performance for non-VA medical care referrals. In February 2015, VA reported that this monthly indicator had been developed and rolled out as a part of the Non-VA medical care coordination initiative. This monthly indicator tracks the number of veterans whose appointments with a non-VA provider are scheduled within 90 days—including generating the veterans’ authorization to receive the care, scheduling the appointment with the non-VA provider, and receiving the veterans’ medical records from the non-VA provider after the appointment is held. However, this indicator only partially implements our recommendation because it does not use the same wait time measures for non-VA medical care as are used for VA facility-based care.

VA Cannot Analyze the Cost-Effectiveness of Non- VA Medical Care

Our recent work found that limitations in the way VA collects non-VA medical care data did not allow the Department to analyze the cost- effectiveness of non-VA medical care provided to veterans. As we reported in May 2013, we found that VA lacked a data system to group medical care delivered by non-VA providers by episode of care—a combined total of all care provided to a veteran during a single office visit For example, we reported that during an office visit to or inpatient stay.an orthopedic surgeon for a joint replacement evaluation, an X-ray of the affected joint may be ordered, the veteran may be given a blood test, and the veteran may receive a physical evaluation from the orthopedic surgeon. The non-VA provider would submit a claim to VA for the office visit and the radiologist that X-rayed the affected joint and the lab that performed the veteran’s blood test would submit separate claims. However, VA’s non-VA medical care data system was not able to link the charges for these three treatments together. We found that this left VA without data for comparing the total non-VA medical care costs for various types of services with the VA facility-based alternative.

Without cost-effectiveness data, we concluded that VA is unable to efficiently compare VA and non-VA options for delivering care in areas with high utilization and spending for non-VA medical care. Two VA facilities we reviewed had undertaken such assessments of whether services should be provided through non-VA medical care or through an expansion of facility-based care, despite the limitations of current data.

Officials at one facility reported that they expanded their operating room capacity to reduce their reliance on non-VA surgical services, saving an estimated $18 million annually in non-VA medical care costs. Similarly, officials from the second facility reported that they were able to reduce their reliance on non-VA medical care by hiring additional VA staff and purchasing additional equipment to perform pulmonary function tests, an effort that reduced related non-VA medical care costs by about $112,000 between fiscal years 2010 and 2012. We also found that the lack of non- VA medical care data available on an episode of care basis prevents VA from efficiently assessing the appropriateness of non-VA provider reimbursement. Specifically, VA officials cannot conduct retrospective reviews of VA facilities’ claims to determine if the appropriate rate was applied for the care provided by non-VA providers.

We recommended in May 2013 that VA establish a mechanism for analyzing the episode of care costs for non-VA medical care. VA concurred with this recommendation and noted that the Department agrees that analyzing episode of care costs is an important part of its non-VA medical care monitoring activities. In February 2015, VA reported that a mechanism to analyze non-VA medical care costs on an episode of care basis would not be instituted until a planned redesign of the Department’s non-VA medical care data systems is completed in fiscal year 2016. As a result, this recommendation remains unimplemented.

VA Lacks Automated Processes for Monitoring Non-VA Medical Care Claims Processing and Has Limited Oversight Mechanisms for Validating VA Facility Actions

Our recent reports have found that crucial limitations exist in VA’s monitoring and oversight of non-VA medical care claims processing. Specifically, VA does not have automated systems to help VA facility- based claims processing staff determine whether a non-VA medical care claim is eligible for payment or notifying veterans that their claims have In addition, VA’s oversight mechanisms—including field been denied.assistance visits to VA facilities processing non-VA medical care claims and audits of VA facilities’ claims determinations—are limited due to weaknesses in their execution.

As we reported in March 2014, we found that there were no automated processes for determining whether a claim for non-VA medical care meets criteria for payment or ensuring that veterans are notified when a claim is denied.and diligence of VA facility-based claims processing staff reviewing each claim and their adherence to VA policies. We found that there were a number of steps in the claims review process that were susceptible to errors that could lead to inappropriate denials of non-VA medical care claims. For example, we found nine instances where a veteran’s claim was denied under VA’s emergency care authority for non-service connected conditions, but should have been paid under VA’s preauthorized non-VA medical care authority because a VA clinician had Instead these processes rely largely on the judgment referred the veteran to the non-VA provider. We found that in eight of these nine cases, VA facility-based personnel failed to complete critical steps in the non-VA medical care authorization process that impacted the information available to claims processing staff later in the process and without an automated process to prompt these claims processing staff to check for additional information, these claims were inappropriately denied.

In addition, according to VA policy, the Department must notify veterans in writing about denied claims and their appeal rights. However, as we reported in March 2014, we found that one VA facility we visited could not produce documentation of veteran notification for any of the 30 denied claims we reviewed. We concluded that when veterans are not informed that their claims for non-VA medical care have been denied and VA has inappropriately denied the claims, veterans could become financially liable for care that VA should have covered. Under such circumstances, veterans’ credit ratings may be negatively affected and they may face personal financial hardships if they are unable to pay the bills they receive from non-VA providers. Taken together, the absence of systematic processes for completing these actions significantly reduces the assurance VA Central Office has that VA facility-based claims processing staff can consistently make accurate determinations about whether or not to pay non-VA medical care claims and notify veterans of their appeal rights in the case of denials.

In March 2014, we made six recommendations aimed at improving VA’s processing of non-VA medical care claims, specifically emergency care claims for conditions not related to veterans’ service-connected disabilities. These recommendations directed the Department to establish or clarify its policies and take other actions to improve VA facilities’ compliance with existing policy requirements. VA concurred with these six recommendations. Based on updates we have received on VA’s implementation of these recommendations, we believe VA has fully implemented two of the six recommendations related to properly dating incoming claims and verifying that claims are submitted to the correct VA facility. However, we believe that for the remaining four of these recommendations, additional steps are needed to revise VA policies on claims processing roles and responsibilities. These unimplemented recommendations are related to VA’s non-VA medical care policies and procedures for processing claims and notifying veterans when claims are denied.

One of VA’s primary methods for monitoring its facilities’ compliance with non-VA medical care claims processing requirements is field assistance visits. As we reported in March 2014, we found a number of limitations in their use as an oversight mechanism. First, we found that VA’s criteria for selecting facilities for field assistance visits may not direct VA to those facilities most in need of this oversight because VA does not take into account the accuracy of claims processing activity when selecting facilities for review. Instead, we found that VA selected the 30 VA facilities that received a field assistance visit in fiscal year 2013 based on their claims processing timeliness. With a limited focus on the timeliness of claims processing and without attention to the accuracy of claims decisions, we concluded that VA Central Office does not have the opportunity to assist VA facilities in making accurate decisions that may impact veterans financial well-being. Second, we found that the checklist VA uses for its field assistance visits does not examine all practices that could lead VA facilities to inappropriately deny claims. For example, VA’s checklist does not examine VA facilities’ practices for determining whether veterans are enrolled at a different VA facility and whether they have been seen by providers at another VA facility in the last 24 months—a critical criterion for determining whether veterans are eligible for emergency care coverage for non-service connected conditions. Finally, we found that VA does not hold facilities accountable for correcting deficiencies identified during these visits, and it does not validate facilities’ self-reported corrections to deficiencies identified during these visits. Specifically, in our review of fiscal year 2012 and 2013 field assistance visit data, we found that some VA facilities had unresolved problems in their fiscal year 2013 field assistance visit that had originated and were identified during their fiscal year 2012 field assistance visit.

In March 2014, we made two recommendations aimed at revising the scope of field assistance visits and ensuring that deficiencies identified during these visits are corrected. VA concurred with both of these recommendations. VA has made some progress in implementing these recommendations as of May 2015 by expanding the topics covered during field assistance visits and updating their standard operating procedures. However, we believe that VA needs to undertake additional actions to sufficiently address them. Specifically, VA needs to ensure field assistance visits include a review of a sample of processed claims in order to determine whether staff are complying with claims processing requirements.

Our recent work has also found that VA has no systematic process for auditing claims to ensure that they were appropriately approved or denied. VA officials stated that they recommend, but do not require, that managers of VA facility-based non-VA medical care claims processing units audit samples of processed claims—including both approved and denied claims—to determine whether staff processed claims appropriately. However, in March 2014 we found that VA did not know how many VA facilities conducted such audits and none of the four VA facilities we visited reported conducting them.

Therefore, in March 2014, we recommended that VA institute systematic audits of the appropriateness of claims processing decisions. VA concurred with this recommendation and has made some progress implementing it as of May 2015 by instituting audits of some paid claims. However, we believe that to fully implement this recommendation, VA needs to undertake additional action. Specifically, VA needs to establish systematic audits of claims processing decisions—including both approvals and denials—made by VA facility-based claims processing staff.

Significant Limitations Exist in VA’s Monitoring and Oversight of Clinical Contracts and Contractors

Contract Monitoring Is Limited by Heavy COR Workloads and Inadequate Training

As we reported in October 2013, we found that CORs cited two challenges that may compromise VA’s monitoring of contractors’ performance—the heavy workload associated with the COR position and the lack of adequate training for CORs.

Relating to workload, CORs at the four VA facilities we visited for our 2013 review consistently reported facing significant challenges in effectively carrying out their COR responsibilities for monitoring clinical contractors. One challenge cited by the majority of CORs we met with (37 of 40 that completed our data collection instrument) was the assignment of the COR role as a collateral duty. Many of these CORs’ primary positions require them to manage staff, maintain budgets, and oversee other clinical providers. We found that the average COR spends about one-quarter of his or her time monitoring approximately 12 contracts, according to estimates provided by the CORs; however, some of these CORs were responsible for overseeing significantly more contracts. For example, we found that 6 of these 40 CORs managed nearly 190 of the 452 (41 percent) contracts in place at the four VA facilities we reviewed and told us they estimated spending at most 30 percent of their work time on their COR duties. In addition, we found that the CORs responsible for managing the 12 contracts we reviewed in depth frequently did not have the time to effectively monitor the performance of contract providers. Specifically, CORs for 8 of the 12 contracts reported that the demands of their primary positions had at times prevented them from fully monitoring contract providers’ performance. In addition, CORs for 6 of these 12 contracts stated that they could not complete certain elements of their COR responsibilities— such as adequately monitoring contract costs—due to limited time and resources.

VA guidance requires VA facilities to provide CORs with the time to complete their responsibilities and ensure that contract compliance is managed by a knowledgeable COR. Specifically, VA’s standard operating procedure for CORs requires VA facilities to provide CORs with the time and resources necessary to complete required training and fulfill their duties as a COR. In addition, to monitor clinical contracts effectively, CORs are required to perform a number of key functions—including completing quarterly reports on contract progress, quality assurance, and invoice audits. However, we found that VA’s guidance related to COR responsibilities did not include any information on how VA facilities are to determine the feasibility of whether a COR’s workload—including both COR and primary position responsibilities—will allow them to carry out their tasks as CORs for monitoring contract provider performance. The COR standard operating procedure also did not provide any guidance for determining when COR duties should be assigned as a collateral duty or a full-time responsibility. We concluded that without clear guidance on how to determine a COR’s workload, VA facilities can unintentionally assign COR duties to a staff member who does not have the time available to properly monitor clinical contractors. If CORs’ workloads prevent proper monitoring of clinical contracts, VA risks missing the opportunity to proactively identify and correct performance issues with contract providers and to recognize patient safety concerns potentially resulting from contract providers’ actions. By failing to identify performance concerns with contract providers, VA could unknowingly be receiving sub-standard service from these contractors, continue to receive services from these contract providers that do not meet the needs of the VA facilities, and risk patient safety problems when these contracts are extended for additional years.

In October 2013, we recommended that VA revise its standard operating procedures for CORs to provide guidance on the number of contracts, based on size and complexity, each COR should manage to ensure that all CORs maintain a workload that allows them to fulfill their duties as a COR and their primary position responsibilities. VA concurred with this recommendation and detailed plans to revise existing COR standard operating procedures to include guidance on the number of contracts, based on size and complexity, that each COR should manage to ensure that all CORs maintain a workload that allows them to fulfill their duties as a COR and their primary position responsibilities. However, in April 2015, VA Central Office officials informed us that the Department no longer plans to revise these standard operating procedures in this manner, and plans instead to place language in the COR nomination letter that states that the COR and their supervisor discussed their workload and determined they could effectively serve as the COR for the contract. We believe that to fully implement our recommendation, VA needs to provide guidance to CORs and their supervisors through a revision to the COR standard operating procedures that provides guidance on the number and type of contracts each COR should manage to ensure that VA facilities and CORs can better make these determinations.

Relating to training, CORs from the four VA facilities we visited noted weaknesses in VA’s COR training courses and our own analysis of these courses confirmed these limitations. Specifically, over half of the 40 CORs from the four VA facilities we visited for our October 2013 review responded that either their COR training did not prepare them for their role as a COR or were neutral on whether or not this training was helpful preparation. In addition, CORs for 8 of the 12 contracts we reviewed in depth did not find the required COR training helpful or applicable to VA clinical contracting. For example, one COR stated that the training covered very broad areas of contracts and did not include specific information on which kinds of contracts need detailed quality assurance plans or information on how to manage a clinical contract rather than a supply contract. In addition, a few CORs stated that the instructors for their training courses had limited knowledge of clinical contracting.

We also reviewed the content of VA’s 32-hour COR training course administered by the VA Acquisition Academy and found that this course had several limitations in preparing CORs to manage clinical contracts in VA facilities, including the following:

Focused on contracts that buy goods, not services. The primary examples used in the course did not include a discussion of clinical contracts at VA and instead walked students through the contracting process using examples such as replacing carpet and making a large computer equipment purchase. There were no examples focused on how to evaluate or measure the quality of services provided by a contract provider in a VA facility’s clinical setting.

Included little information on monitoring responsibilities. The course content included limited information for CORs on post-award monitoring responsibilities for clinical contracts and instead was heavily weighted to discussing the pre-award development of a contract.

To supplement this required course, VA’s Medical Sharing Office in June 2013 developed and implemented an 8-hour training course for CORs managing clinical contracts. However, VA did not require this course be completed by all CORs managing clinical contracts.covered primarily pre-award contract development responsibilities of CORs and did not include any significant information on the post-award monitoring responsibilities of CORs managing clinical contracts.

In October 2013, we recommended that VA modify its COR training to ensure it includes examples and discussion of how to develop and monitor service contracts—including contracts for the provision of clinical care in VA facilities. VA concurred with this recommendation. In August 2014, VA provided us with a copy of its revised training modules for CORs and notified us the Department intends to require this training for all CORs.

VA’s Oversight of VA Facility Clinical Contract Monitoring Is Limited

Our recent work has also found that VA has not established a robust method for overseeing the monitoring of clinical contractors by COs and CORs throughout its health care system. Our October 2013 report found that VA’s primary oversight entity for health care contracting activities, the VHA Procurement and Logistics Office, has a limited role in overseeing the monitoring actions of COs and CORs once a contract has been approved and initiated at a VA facility. The VHA Procurement and Logistics Office conducts limited oversight of contracting activities throughout the VA health care system through its SAOs and Procurement Operations Office.

Service Area Offices. According to officials from the three SAOs we interviewed for our October 2013 report, the role of the three SAOs in clinical contract monitoring is limited to an audit of the records COs maintain in VA’s electronic Contract Management System. These reviews focus only on the completeness of COs’ electronic contracting files—including documentation that a COR with current training records was assigned to the contract. SAO electronic Contract Management System audits did not include any reviews of CORs’ monitoring of clinical contractors.

Procurement Operations Office. The VHA Procurement and Logistics Office’s Procurement Operations Office is the only entity responsible for overseeing the monitoring activities of CORs; however, the reviews conducted by this office were limited to a remote electronic documentation review of a small sample of COR files. Prior to the release of our October 2013 report, officials from the Procurement Operations Office told us that to select COR files for these reviews, a Procurement Operations Office staff member aims to select 25 COR files for active contracts per network contracting office—about 2.1 percent of clinical contracts in an average VISN if all 25 selected COR files are for clinical contracts. VA officials told us that, while the Procurement Operations Office sets a goal to review COR files from two network contracting offices each month, since implementing the program in March 2013 these reviews had been completed in only four network contracting offices and none of these four offices had received feedback on the outcomes of these reviews as of August 2013. These reviews also had a narrow focus on the completeness of COR files because the Procurement Operations Office staff member reviewing the files relies on a checklist to verify the presence or absence of required documentation of COR monitoring activities and does not review the quality of information contained within a COR’s records.

We concluded that the limited review schedule and narrow focus on file completeness did not allow the Procurement Operations Office to comprehensively assess the monitoring activities of COs and CORs throughout VA’s health care system. Without a robust monitoring system in place, VA cannot be reasonably assured that all CORs in all VA facilities are monitoring clinical contractors and maintaining the proper records of their efforts to monitor the activities of clinical contractors caring for veterans.

We recommended in October 2013 that VA increase its oversight of COs and CORs by ensuring that post-award contracting files are regularly reviewed for all network contracting offices. VA concurred with this recommendation and noted that the Department would revise COR standard operating procedures to ensure that regular reviews of post- award contract files from all network contracting offices are conducted. While VA has made progress in implementing this recommendation by completing 45 more reviews of COR files in fiscal year 2014 than in fiscal year 2013, these reviews were still only conducted in 5 of the 21 network contracting offices. We believe that to fully implement this recommendation VA needs to ensure that a sample of COR files are reviewed from all network contracting offices.

Chairman Coffman, Ranking Member Kuster, and Members of the Subcommittee, this completes my prepared statement. I would be pleased to respond to any questions that you may have.

GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

If you or your staffs have any questions about this statement, please contact me at (202) 512-7114 or williamsonr@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this statement. GAO staff who made key contributions to this statement include Marcia A. Mann, Assistant Director; Jackie Hamilton; Katherine Nicole Laubacher; and Emily Ryan.

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