A Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) policy at odds with a federal law has allowed veterans’ hospitals for the last 15 years to hire health-care providers with revoked medical licenses, USA Today reported Thursday.
A federal law passed in 1999 prevents the VA from hiring any health-care worker whose license has been revoked by the state, but the VA issued national guidelines in 2002 giving local hospitals discretion to consider “all relevant facts” surrounding revoked licenses.
As a result, the VA hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, hired neurosurgeon John Henry Schneider even though Schneider had numerous malpractice claims and had his license revoked in Wyoming. Schneider still had a license in Montana, USA Today reported.
{mosads}After the VA moved to fire the doctor, he resigned. The VA said it received “incorrect guidance” in hiring him.
Schneider, speaking to USA Today, defended the medical care he provided and said poor patient outcomes resulted from complications during surgey and mistakes by other providers.
VA Secretary David Shulkin said he has ordered the department to rewrite its own guidelines and launched a national review to identify and remove other workers with revoked licenses.
Providers with prior sanctions less significant than revocation will also be reviewed, Shulkin told USA Today.
USA Today previously found the VA hired doctors with a history of malpractice and legal complaints.