Administrative Investigation, Conflict of Interest, Misuse of Resources, Gratuities, and Failure to Follow Policy, James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, Florida

An administrative investigation found that a Medical Center Clinician at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, Tampa, Florida, engaged in a conflict of interest when the Clinician referred VA patients to a VA fee-for-service provider, while the Clinician also had a private working relationship with them as the owner of a private company. We also found that the Clinician improperly accepted gifts from the provider; misused VA time and resources to conduct tasks for the private business during the VA workday; and improperly used VA time and resources to develop an application (app) for personal gain. We further found that the Clinician failed to follow VA policy when the Clinician sent VA patient radiology and photograph images from a VA-assigned email account to private email accounts and accessed them on non-VA issued equipment. Finally, we found that the Clinician also violated VA policy when the Clinician asked other VA employees to log onto the VA network using the Clinician’s username and password to falsely reflect that the Clinician was at a VA duty station when the Clinician was not.