Mail disorder: Phoenix VA health care system didn’t process colon cancer screening tests due to unpaid postage
PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Hundreds of colon cancer screen tests sent to Arizona's Phoenix VA Health Care System were not processed on time due to unpaid postage, according to a report published in Oversight.gov. On this website, the Federal Inspector General consolidates reports for public access.
The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Veteran Affairs investigated the issue based on a complaint received on September 9.
According to the report, the complaint said, "more than 400 fecal immunochemical tests (FITs), a type of CRC screening test, were delivered to the facility in June 2022 after being held in a non-VA warehouse for more than 30 days because of unpaid postage bills."
The Phoenix VA Health Care System is part of the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 22. It includes the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix and ten outpatient clinics located throughout central Arizona.
Inspection results found the Phoenix VA Health Care System guilty
The OIG opened the investigation to determine if there was a "delay in the receipt of more than 400 patient FITs (fecal immunochemical tests), failure to protect the personal identifying information of affected patients, and delay in the affected patients receiving further evaluation and care, when warranted."
Investigation results said that FITs of 406 patients were kept in the USPS station for around 60 days as the facility failed to pay the postage bill. The samples were ruined when they finally arrived at the lab in June 2022.
The samples will remain good only for a short period of 15 when kept at room temperature and for 30 days in a refrigerator. Thus, the labs could not test 403 samples because they expired.
Change in supervisors led to the mishap
According to the OIG, a change of supervisors at the facility led to a communication gap, and they failed to pay the postage bill. The investigation found that the VA realized the mistake and did a follow-up with the patients, informing them about the screening and further treatment for colon cancer.
The OIG discovered that the facility's pre-printed FIT label did not have a designated space for patients to note the collection date. Additionally, the laboratory manager and staff had no proper knowledge of FIT stability, and the primary care staff were unaware of the significance of recording the collection date.
Phoenix VA Health Care System responded to the findings, saying that it agreed with the OIG report and has implemented a new policy to ensure such processing problems never repeat and will provide better training for workflow in the lab procedures.
"VA is committed to delivering timely, high-quality health care that places Veterans at the center of their care and fully engages them in treatment decisions. We acknowledge that we did not meet our goals in these cases, appreciate the Office of Inspector General's review, and take their findings and recommendations seriously," said Shevonne Cleveland with the Phoenix VA Health Care System to a local news outlet.