Excerpt: “The OIG made three recommendations to the [Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN)] 7 director and one recommendation to the facility director to assess the staffing and operations of the contact center and specialty clinic telephone line at the facility. VISN 7 needs to evaluate current contact center data against VHA’s recommended call center staffing model to determine whether the call center is overstaffed following consolidation. Further, VISN 7 needs to evaluate the call coverage and handle times of the clinical contact center staff at the facility and address any issues that may affect the clinical contact center’s overall ability to meet VHA performance standards. The OIG recommended that VISN 7 periodically review call data and establish a review process for the facility’s specialty care clinics. Finally, the facility also needs to evaluate the performance of health administration services staff who handle mental health and specialty care clinic calls to make sure abandonment rate and timeliness standards are met.”
Inspector General Report
(46 pages)