Combined Assessment Program Review of the Bath VA Medical Center, Bath, New York

The purpose of the review was to evaluate selected operations, focusing on patient care administration and quality management (QM). During the review, OIG provided crime awareness briefings to 131 employees. This review focused on eight operational activities. The facility complied with selected standards in the following three activities: (1) colorectal cancer screening, (2) coordination of care, and (3) medication management. The facility’s reported accomplishments were receiving the Gold Cornerstone award from the National Center for Patient Safety in 2011 and identifying a previously unrecognized look-alike/sound-alike medication pair. OIG made recommendations for improvement in the following five activities: (1) environment of care, (2) QM, (3) nurse staffing, (4) polytrauma, and (5) point-of-care testing.