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PLRD-82-44 1 (1982-02-23)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabcxn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITiD STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 HUMAN RESOURCES DIVISION B-206270 FEBRUARY 23,1982 The Honorable Robert P. Nimmo Administrator of Veterans Affairs 117591 Dear Mr. Nimmo: Subject: VA Needs To Improve Its Quality Assurance Program For Medical Supply and Equipment Items (PLRD-82-44) The Veterans Administration (VA) Marketing Center in Hines, Illinois, is a national purchasing activity, providing 172 VA medical centers an opportunity to obtain supplies and equipment through a centrally managed national depot distribution system. The Marketing Center purchases about 650 different medical sup- ply and equipment items for three VA supply depots located in California, Illinois, and New Jersey. It also is responsible for assuring product quality. In fiscal year 1981, VA medical centers obtained about $54 million of their medical supply and equipment items from these depots. We made this review to assess the adequacy of VA's quality assurance program. (See enc. I for details on our objectives, scope, and methodology.) In summary, we found that the program does not consistently establish quality standards, nor does it have a dependable inspection program. In addition, since January 1980 the Marketing Center has been using informal pur- chase descriptions, rather than detailed specifications, to obtain medical supply and equipment items. However, the descriptions have not been coordinated with the users and sup- pliers. By changing to purchase descriptions, VA eliminated many of the standards that were previously available to assure that the items purchased met medical center needs. VA believed the use of purchase descriptions would result in the purchase of acceptable items from the commercial marketplace. To test VA's quality assurance program, we examined items in the warehouse at Hines using a common sense usability approach. We found that items frequently were of poor quality or did not operate as intended. (A detailed listing showing the results of our examination is contained in enc. II.) Surgical instruments had defects, such as cracks, pits, or rough edges, that could prevent proper sterilization. Some did not close properly or failed to meet VA test standards. Furniture and (950644)

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