OIG Finds Significant Backlogs in VA Medical Record Digitization

August 27, 2019 - After conducting an audit of over 70 Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that these organizations had a significant amount of medical documents waiting to be digitized or scanned, with a cumulative backlog containing at least 597,000 individual electronic files.

A backlog of this scale could seriously hinder clinicians’ ability to provide veterans with quality, coordinated care, OIG noted.

“Since the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act passed in August 2014, more than 70 million appointments with non-VA providers have been completed, generating at least as many medical documents,” the agency stated.

“Non-VA providers send medical documents to VA medical facilities for staff to scan or import into patients’ electronic health records (EHRs), which helps ensure continuity of care by healthcare providers.”

It’s critical that VA medical staff incorporate these non-VA documents into patients’ EHRs to ensure clinicians have access to accurate, up-to-date, and complete information.