WASHINGTON (AP) – Doctors, nurses or pharmacy staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ hospitals were fired or reprimanded in only a small fraction of thousands of reported cases of opioid theft and missing prescriptions since 2010, according to government data obtained by The Associated Press.
About 372 VA employees were disciplined for a drug or alcohol-related issue across a network of 160 medical centers and 1,000 clinics over the last six years, according to internal figures kept by the facilities that were reported to VA’s headquarters. During that time, there were more than 11,000 reported incidents of drug loss or theft at federal hospitals – the vast majority within the VA, according to law enforcement data. Roughly translated, VA employees were disciplined in 3 percent of cases.
Nearly one-third of the disciplined employees were dismissed or forced to resign, according to VA data. Others were suspended without pay, admonished or given “last chance” warnings. Disciplined employees had failed a drug test or were suspected of stealing drugs, among other offenses.
The VA declined to comment on reasons behind the low disciplinary rate, saying some cases were still being adjudicated. It also would not immediately release the case reports, citing employees’ personal information.
“We would like there to be no drug diversion anywhere at any time,” Michael Valentino, chief consultant at VA’s Pharmacy Benefits Management Services, told AP. “No matter how robust our systems are, people will be determined to find ways to get around them.”