Five Veterans Affairs Hospitals Restricted From Complex Surgeries

May 15, 2010
by
MyFOX Houston -- Channel 26 News

(NewsCore) - Five Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals can no longer perform certain surgeries after the VA declared their facilities were not sufficiently equipped to carry out complex procedures, U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported Saturday.

VA hospitals in Alexandria, La.; Beckley, W.Va.; Fayetteville, N.C.; Illiana at Danville, Ill.; and Spokane, Wash., were only authorized to perform standard inpatient surgeries after the restrictions were announced.

The move was the result of a two-year nationwide review of inpatient care at VA facilities.

Each VA surgical hospital now carries a designation of standard, intermediate or complex -- a reference to the level of surgery that can be performed there.

Hospitals that gain the rating of complex are able to carry out intricate procedures like craniotomies and cardiac surgery, while an intermediate-rated hospital can perform joint replacements and abdominal procedures.

Hospitals with a standard rating are only authorized to provide procedures such as hernia repair, urologic procedures and ear, nose and throat surgery.

VA officials said the complexity ratings would be expanded in the future to include outpatient procedures, the newspaper reported.

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