Government healthcare

With all of the angst accompanying the roll out of the Affordable Care Act, the foibles, the unintended consequences, the unanticipated costs; it may be instructive to review the findings of a previous investigation into government run healthcare. These were the findings of a Senat Committee on Indian Affairs investigation into the operation of the Indian Health Service in the Aberdeen Area in 2010:

Among the investigation’s major findings:
• Chronic mismanagement, lack of employee accountability and financial integrity;

• Several service units experienced substantial and recurring diversions of reduced
health care services, due to lack of qualified providers or funds;

• Five IHS hospitals in the Aberdeen Area are at risk of losing their accreditation or
certification from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS);

• Several facilities have been cited as having health care providers on staff who
lacked proper licensing or credentialing;

• Key senior staff positions remained vacant for long periods of time, contributing to
the lack of proper management;

• Employees with a record of misconduct or poor performance being transferred to
different health facilities within the Indian health system;

• Pharmaceutical audits of narcotics and other controlled substances are not
regularly performed, and three service units within the region have a history of
missing or stolen narcotics.   Source: http://www.indian.senate.gov/news/pressreleases/2010-12-28.cfm