WASHINGTON, DC (WKBT) — The Veteran Benefits Administration’s Contract Medical Exam Program’s governance needs to improve, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs inspector deneral.
In a report released Wednesday, the inspector general’s office said limitations of the governance of the VBA’s Contract Medical Exam Program put veterans at risk of inaccurate claims decisions. Deficiencies including a hindered ability to hold vendors accountable for correcting errors and improving exam accuracy were identified.
Contract exams cost the VA $6.8 billion since 2017, the report said. Some of the exams did not meet accuracy requirements. As a result, claims processors may have used inaccurate or insufficient medical evidence to decide veterans’ claims, officials added.
The report made four recommendations to the acting under secretary for benefits, including ensuring vendors can be held contractually accountable for unsatisfactory performance and establishing procedures for vendors to correct errors. It also recommended requiring the Medical Disability Examination Office to communicate vendor exam errors to the field operations office and the regional offices and demonstrate progress in correcting them, and analyze all available data to identify systemic errors and provide systemic exam issues and error trends to vendors.
The full report can be found here.
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