Ben Rodgers

brodgers@stcloudtimes.com

An investigation into the St. Cloud VA Health Care System found the facility inadvertently misreported the number of physicians and patient loads for physicians, according to a report from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General.

The investigation stemmed from a complaint made in the fall of 2015 to U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, representative of the 1st District, that the staff had previously provided inaccurate information to him. The report was released Thursday.

The investigation found the VA did not accurately represent the gains and losses of physicians and mid-level providers at the facility, according to the report. The VA also failed to accurately report the number of primary care provider panel sizes at the facility.

The investigation determined the errors were not intentional, the report said.

The director of the network that oversees the VA in St. Cloud submitted a plan to correct flaws that led to the reporting errors.

During the investigation, however, the use of "ghost panels" were not found at the facility. Ghost panels are defined as patients assigned to primary care providers who were not actively providing care.

A separate federal investigation requested by Walz found that more than 2,300 VA patients in Iowa and South Dakota were assigned to primary care ghost panels.

No 'ghost panels' found at St. Cloud VA

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