WASHINGTON – Members of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs are asking for more information about a VA outpatient clinic in Indiana following an investigation that found employees there changed veterans’ pain medication without doing physical assessments.

The committee last week sent a letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin asking for details on the VA’s follow up to the investigation, including any action being taken against the employees named in the report.

The letter was signed by U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski, whose district includes the Peru VA Community Outpatient Clinic, and U.S. Representatives Jim Banks and David Roe, who both serve on the committee.

The letter comes after the VA Office of Medical Inspector led an investigation into the clinic in December based on accusations of improper care and scheduling improprieties reported to Walorski and former Congressman Jeff Miller.

The investigation found one employee at the Peru clinic had tapered opioid pain medication for at least six veterans without a face-to-face clinical appointment or physical assessment, which violates both Indiana state law and VA policy.

The VA team also determined patients were being scheduled without their knowledge and often cancelled by the clinic on the day of the appointment. Policy prohibits scheduling an appointment without negotiating the date and time with the patient.

The legislators who signed the letter now want to know about any administrative action taken against the employees and whether the worker who tapered veterans’ pain medication without their knowledge would be reported to the state licensing board.

The letter also requests information about the rate and dosage of opioids that were prescribed to a veteran who died while receiving care at the clinic. The VA was unable to substantiate whether the veteran died as a result of having their medication changed. An autopsy revealed the veteran died from severe coronary artery disease.

Legislators also requested more details on prescribing and scheduling practices at the clinic, and whether the VA would take steps to ensure all the employees cited in the report would be held responsible.

In a statement, Walorski called the improper care and scheduling manipulation at the Peru clinic “reprehensible.”

“Hoosier veterans deserve better,” she said. “The VA secretary needs to explain why this misconduct was allowed to continue for so long, whether those responsible have been held accountable and what is being done to prevent these failures from occurring again.”

The letter sent to Shulkin states that all the information requested should be provided to the committee by June 2, and noted committee members would not close their inquiry until they are “sufficiently satisfied with the responses provided.”

Gerber writes for the Kokomo, Indiana Tribune.