VA assigns ratings to surgical facilities

[unhappycamper]

VA assigns ratings to surgical facilities
By Lisa M. Novak, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, May 15, 2010

NAPLES, Italy — Five Veterans Affairs hospitals can no longer perform certain surgeries after the VA determined the facilities were not properly equipped to carry out more complex procedures.

VA hospitals in Alexandria, La.; Beckley, W.Va.; Fayetteville, N.C.; Illiana at Danville, Ill.; and Spokane, Wash., are now authorized to perform only standard inpatient surgeries — the lowest rating assigned under the agency’s new Surgical Complexity Initiative.

The initiative is the result of a two-year nationwide review of inpatient care at VA facilities, the agency announced last week. Under the initiative, each of the VA’s stateside surgical hospitals now carry a designation of standard, intermediate or complex, which defines the types of surgery each is authorized to perform.

Hospitals with a rating of complex can carry out intricate procedures such as craniotomies, cardiac and pancreatic surgery. An intermediate rating means a hospital can perform such surgeries as joint replacements and abdominal procedures. Hospitals with a standard rating are authorized to provide only simple inpatient procedures such as hernia repair, urologic procedures and ear, nose and throat surgery.

"Those five facilities were given standard designations based on infrastructure, workload and staffing level," said VA spokesman Drew Brookie.

[dsn]

1. Yeah, I love this one...

I used to live in Fayetteville, NC, which is on the list. Then I moved to the area served by the Spokane, WA, hospital, which is also on the list...good thing I don't ever get sick, huh?

This really won't affect the quality of care for our veterans. If the veteran needs a surgery they can't do at the VA hospital, they put the veteran in a vehicle, take the veteran to a hospital that can do it and pay the bill when it arrives. In Fayetteville they took the veterans either to UNC Hospital or Duke Hospital; in Spokane they have two very good hospitals to choose from. Not sure what they do with the people served by the Beckley hospital.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. K&R thanks i use the VA