Veteran Affairs Office of Inspector General Report Released

The Montana Veterans Affairs Health Care System announced that it has taken steps to address all recommendations made in a VA Office of Inspector General report released today regarding allegations of mistreatment and care concerns at the Montana VA’s Community Living Center in Miles City.

In Dec. 2021, Montana VA self-identified concerns with patient safety. The VA pursued multiple processes to include inspections, investigations, and inquiries to fully evaluate the CLC. While no criminal violations were discovered, immediate mitigation strategies were put into place and the OIG inspection was launched. The staff involved no longer work for the Montana VA.

The OIG report substantiated that a patient was mistreated and made seven recommendations to resolve the issue and prevent further incidents. Montana VA has addressed all the OIG recommendations.

“The safety and wellbeing of our Veterans is our highest priority,” said Executive Director Dr. Judy Hayman. “Every Veteran who walks through our doors deserves world-class care, and no patient should ever be mistreated. This type of failure is unacceptable, and we have taken steps to help ensure that never happens again.”

Care concerns required the Montana VA to temporarily pause care at the facility in April 2022. During the pause, a full spectrum of staffing requirements were addressed, to include hiring, training and certifying a full CLC team. Once these concerns were addressed, the CLC resumed care in September 2022.

Montana VA serves over 47,000 enrolled Veterans across Montana—an area roughly 147,000 square miles in size. Veterans are cared for by a staff of 1,400 at 18 sites of care across the state.  One third of Montana VA employees are Veterans.

Veterans can connect to their VA healthcare records, information, and message their VA care teams 24 hours a day through the MyHealtheVet patient portal. Montana VA information, updates, and events are available on the Montana VA website and Facebook page.

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Matthew Rosine, Public Affairs Specialist

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Katie (Catherine) Beall, VISN-19 Newsroom Chief

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