Combined Assessment Program Review of the Charles George VA Medical Center, Asheville, North Carolina

The purpose of the review was to evaluate selected health care facility operations, focusing on patient care quality and the environment of care. During the review, OIG provided crime awareness briefings to 119 employees. This review focused on eight operational activities. The facility complied with selected standards in the following three activities: (1) medication management – controlled substances inspections, (2) nurse staffing, and (3) preventable pulmonary embolism. The facility’s reported accomplishments were a system redesign project to improve the appropriateness of admissions to vascular surgery and oncology inpatient beds and to reduce avoidable bed days of care and diversion hours and the initiation of multiple communication and transparency activities to improve employee satisfaction. OIG made recommendations for improvement in the following five activities: (1) quality management, (2) environment of care, (3) coordination of care – hospice and palliative care, (4) long-term home oxygen therapy, and (5) construction safety.