The Veterans Health Administration has failed to establish a last-resort communications capability in order to continue providing veterans with health care resources in the event of a crisis that impairs communications among Veterans Affairs facilities, according to a new report.
VHA’s failure to set up an enterprise-wide emergency communication system comes after the agency spent more than $8.5 million and awarded a five-year contract to install a resilient high-frequency radio network at approximately 200 VA facilities by January 2020, the VA Inspector General report said. According to the report released earlier this month, the IG received a hotline complaint in 2020 alerting that the system was not functioning at a healthcare system in Pennsylvania, which ultimately led the office to conduct an audit into the communications network and its operability at various VA facilities…
The audit found that 17 of the 21 sampled locations lacked a fully operational system, despite the VA previously claiming the network was operable in 60% of its facilities with the required radio equipment. The agency “overstated the degree to which the network was operational” and required equipment repairs and increased training across the vast majority of RHFRN sites… Read the full article here.
