Activities of the Veterans Administration's Office of the Inspector General

Activities of the Veterans Administration's (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) were discussed. GAO reviewed an OIG investigation of allegations concerning the medical center at Palo Alto, California. It investigated allegations related to harassment of certain VA employees and observations concerning the recently proposed establishment of a VA Office of Medical Inspector. The present OIG consists of the Office of Audit (OA), the Office of Investigation (OI), and a smaller unit called the Risk Analysis Staff (RAS). The efforts to control fraud and abuse in VA have been hampered by OIG problems with staff resources and efforts to audit medical centers on a 3-year cycle. OIG has little control over the receipt and disposition of allegations. It has been referring insignificant allegations to the various departments for actions. Audit report concurrence procedures are faulty, leading to unduly delayed reports, recommendations being revised or deleted for lack of concurrence, and reports failing to be issued without concurrence. GAO monitored OIG investigations of allegations of increased crime rate, illegal drug use, inadequate law enforcement, interference by the medical staff in criminal investigations, and reprisals against employees making the allegations at the Palo Alto medical center. GAO found that the major allegations were only partially pursued by OIG. GAO continues to investigate charges of unwarranted OIG harrassment of certain VA employees and the fabrication of charges and documents. Despite the recognized problems of OIG, numerous audits and investigations have been undertaken, and corrective actions have been taken on report recommendations.