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VAAAHS Leadership Meet with U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell and Tim Walberg to discuss the recent rescheduling on some surgical procedures in Ann Arbor. Photo provided

ANN ARBOR, MI - The presence of sterile particulate in surgical trays in the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System has resulted in delaying and moving some surgeries for veterans to its community partners.

On May 22, leaders from the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System met with U.S. Representatives Debbie Dingell and Tim Walberg to discuss the recent rescheduling of some surgical procedures in Ann Arbor.

Dingell and Walberg had the opportunity to meet with surgical and sterile processing staff to discuss the intermittent presence of sterile particulate in some surgical trays which has resulted in moving a limited number of surgeries to community partners, including the University of Michigan Health System.

"We are working with the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System to accommodate appropriate surgical cases in our hospitals," UMHS Director of Institutional Positioning Mary Masson said in a statement.

Acting Medical Center Director Dr. Eric Young said that although the Ann Arbor VA has maintained a high volume of surgeries since the repair of a water pipe break adjacent to the sterile processing area last fall, sterile particulate continues to be found in some trays.

The VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System had to cancel and move surgeries because of inorganic materials on surgical equipment caused by a water main break back in November.

Hospital workers noticed micro-particulates on surgical equipment the week of Nov. 9, 2015, and stopped all surgeries to find the cause of the particulates.

"Through the routine tray inspection process, VA OR staff proactively identify particulate and the tray is removed from use prior to surgery," Ann Arbor VA public affairs officer Derek Atkinson said in a release. "The health system has brought in a variety of experts over the past months to fully eradicate this problem."

Although those efforts continue, as a precautionary measure in situations where full back-up instrumentation may not be available if a particulate is found in a tray, a decision was made several weeks ago to move open heart cases to the community.

"Our mission is to ensure patient safety and to provide the highest quality of surgical care," said Dr. Bill Kuzon, VAAAHS Chief of Surgery and Reed O. Dingman Professor of Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School.

"We monitor our outcomes very carefully and I am confident that there has been no increase in surgical site infections or other complications. Although it has been necessary to delay or cancel cases, we have used all available resources to ensure that our patients continue to receive timely and appropriate care."

VA Ann Arbor continues to work with each impacted veteran to arrange their surgery in the community at VA expense or reschedule at VA Ann Arbor as soon as possible.

Following their visits, Dingell and Walberg offered statements regarding the ongoing contamination issue at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, noting that they have been in constant communication with the VA since being alerted that surgeries continue to be canceled or moved.

"The staff at the Ann Arbor VA is a dedicated group of individuals," the statement read. "This issue came to light because they were doing their job inspecting surgical instruments and discovered the problem.

"To be clear, it does not appear that the particulate issue has caused an infection or harm to a patient. We believe it is important that, like other hospitals, the VA be open and transparent and report the number of patients that have acquired surgical infections while receiving care at the VA, and the number of surgeries that have been canceled or moved to another hospital."

Dingell and Walberg noted they will be introducing legislation later today that will increase reporting requirements for VA hospitals to improve transparency.

Martin Slagter covers higher education for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at mslagter@mlive.com or on Twitter.