Healthcare Inspection – Alleged Mental Health Access and Treatment Deficiencies, Brunswick Community Outpatient Clinic, Brunswick, Georgia

OIG conducted a review at the request of former Representative Jack Kingston to assess allegations regarding mental health and treatment deficiencies at the Brunswick community based outpatient clinic (CBOC), Brunswick, Georgia. We substantiated that a patient was unable to contact or schedule an appointment with his psychiatrist over several weeks in late summer 2014 when the provider was on leave. It did not appear that the psychiatrist informed the My HealtheVet coordinator or designated a surrogate to respond to secure messages in her absence. We found that the process of scheduling follow-up appointments did not comply with Veterans Health Administration outpatient scheduling guidelines. We did not substantiate that the patient did not have a treatment plan for his post-traumatic stress disorder, although we did find long periods when the patient did not see his psychiatrist or social worker therapist. While we confirmed that the patient was not prescribed anti-anxiety medications by a VA provider for more than a year, we did not substantiate the CBOC providers withheld this medication as the complainant implied. We substantiated that the CBOC did not offer group therapy for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the complaint and we substantiated that the patient was not receiving or participating in psychotherapy at the time of the complaint. We made 5 recommendations.