VA assigns ratings to surgical facilitiesBy 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.