VA opens probes at Cincinnati hospital
More turmoil bubbled Saturday at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center: The Department of Veterans Affairs has opened two fresh investigations into the facility, one apparently concerning its medical operations and one looking into possible misconduct.
The vague government statements did not describe the natures or scopes of the investigations. But VA also announced that leadership for the Cincinnati VA Medical Center has been shifted temporarily from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh.
Since 2006, Jack Hetrick has overseen VA’s regional network in Ohio of 11 facilities, including the massive hospital in Corryville, which care for 43,000 veterans annually. In October, his responsibilities were broadened to include VA’s facilities in Michigan and Indiana. Saturday, he said in a phone interview that he remains in charge of the region, but his oversight of the Cincinnati VA was shifted to Pittsburgh for the duration of the VA’s investigations.
While Hetrick, who is based in Sycamore Township, said he is limited about what he can say about VA’s investigations, “They have been reviewing a number of employee allegations about certain things at the hospital. I cannot get too much into it. It’s part of what the Washington review is looking at.”
The VA statement Saturday said the department “takes any allegations of conduct that negatively affect the care of veterans or that is against our values very seriously,” and VA’s office of medical inspector began an investigation Tuesday at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center.
In a second statement, the VA also said its office of inspector general “is launching an investigation at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center. The OIG investigation was initiated at the request of VA.”
“To ensure no conflict of interest during the investigation, the Cincinnati (hospital) will be temporarily realigned from the Veterans Integrated Service Network 10 office in Cincinnati to VISN 4 in Pittsburgh,” the statement said.
The statements did not say what investigators are examining. But the investigations apparently were prompted by questions from reporters with WCPO in Cincinnati and the Scripps Washington bureau, who reported Saturday that reporters presented VA officials with findings of their own investigation into hospital leadership and “alleged conflicts of interest with VISN 10 leadership.”
WCPO and Scripps reported it had turned up evidence “of potentially inappropriate conduct involving a high-ranking official at the Cincinnati hospital, regional network director Jack Hetrick, and one of Hetrick’s family members.”
Hetrick said Saturday that he did meet with a WCPO reporter in January and “did my best to answer the questions they had.” Hetrick declined to elaborate, citing the VA’s investigations.
“I feel pretty confident that we have been very fair and above board and have produced a lot of positive things at the facility and many of the improvements over the past year,” Hetrick said.
Saturday’s development elicited a statement from Republican Rep. Luke Messer of southeastern Indiana: “It’s sad the Department of Veterans Affairs is once again making headlines for alleged misconduct. Many Hoosier veterans in my district rely on the Cincinnati VA for care, yet so far, the VA has been very cryptic and given my office few details about what’s going on. Our veterans deserve better. They deserve an honest assessment of exactly what’s happening at the Cincinnati VA, and anyone involved in misconduct must be held accountable.”
In July 2014, The Enquirer and USA TODAY reported that Hetrick shared in more than $380,000 in bonuses that went to 292 directors and top officials at 38 VA hospitals where investigators were looking into claims of falsified appointment records or where there have been excessive delays in patient care.