In this episode of Veteran Oversight Now, host Fred Baker talks with Shawn Steele, the director of the VA OIG’s Office of Audits and Evaluations Healthcare Infrastructure Division. Taking a very unique approach, 150 OIG staff recently mobilized to evaluate the security posture of 70 VA medical facilities over three days. Persistent police staffing shortages and growing concerns about incidents that put VA staff, patients, and visitors at risk led the OIG to conduct the review, Security and Incident Preparedness at VA Medical Facilities. OIG teams assessed whether each VA medical facility visited had established a minimum-security posture and had taken required actions according to VA policy. The OIG identified multiple security vulnerabilities and deficiencies, most notably staffing shortages that contributed to the lack of a visible and active police presence.

“VA medical facilities are meant to be welcoming. They’re meant to be easy to access and as a result have many entrances. On top of that, there are 171 geographically diverse medical facilities in the VA network, and each of them come with their own unique challenges. It’s important to understand that there is not one [security] template that can be applied. There are 171 templates that need to be applied.”
– Shawn Steele

Related Report:

Security and Incident Preparedness at VA Medical Facilities