Each month, the VA Office of Inspector General publishes highlights of our oversight reports, congressional testimony, and investigative work. In May 2025, the VA OIG published 11 reports that included 54 recommendations. Report topics varied from an audit of the VHA’s Pain Management, Opioid Safety, and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to a healthcare inspection to assess allegations of deficiencies in the emergency department care provided to a patient at the Martinsburg VA Medical Center in West Virginia. 

On Capitol Hill, Deputy Assistant IG Brent Arronte, in the Office of Audits and Evaluations, testified on May 14 before the House Veterans’ Affairs’ Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. His testimony focused on the OIG’s independent oversight of VA’s compensation and benefits programs, specifically how inadequate staff training combined with often unclear and inadequate guidance contribute to incorrect payments being made to veterans. 

VA OIG investigative efforts resulted in the sentencing of four defendants for their roles in an $110 million healthcare kickback scheme. Meanwhile, a former nurse at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston was indicted for falsely claiming she had checked on a patient who ultimately died. 

Read the full monthly highlights at: https://www.vaoig.gov/report/monthly-highlights 

Related Reports:

• Better Communication and Oversight Could Improve How the Pain Management, Opioid Safety, and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Manages Funds

• Failure to Flag Fiduciaries Who Were Removed Results in Risk to Vulnerable Beneficiaries

• Deficiencies in Emergency Care for a Female Veteran at Martinsburg VA Medical Center in West Virginia