Review of Alleged Irregularities with the Health Eligibility Center's 365-Day Response Letters to Individuals with Pending Health Care Enrollment Records

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated the merits of allegations that identified irregularities during an Health Eligibility Center (HEC) outreach mailing campaign. The complainant alleged that the HEC sent incorrect 365-day response letters to veterans with pending health care enrollment records. Specifically, VA allegedly sent letters to veterans requesting verification of military service when missing financial means test information was needed, and vice versa. Despite this purported mistake, the complainant alleged that the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) planned to declare more than 500,000 health care applications incomplete or abandoned at the end of March 2017, and would then delete the records from the Enrollment System. The OIG did not substantiate the allegation that VHA sent individuals with pending records the incorrect type of letter. The OIG independently traced and verified that the printer proofs for each batch of form letters printed and mailed by the vendor matched the letters sent to the veteran by HEC’s contracting officer. All 16 batches had printer proofs demonstrating the intended type of letter was not switched. The OIG also found that the content for both outreach form letter types was appropriate and complied with statutory requirements. The OIG also did not identify evidence that VHA has or planned to prematurely close or delete pending enrollment records prior to the required retention period. Staff conducting day-to-day enrollment activities could not remove or delete these records. Overall, the OIG did not substantiate either allegation and therefore made no recommendations for improvement.