Lawmakers press VA on improper drug orders

Lawmakers press VA on improper drug orders
By Cid Standifer
Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jun 7, 2012

Lawmakers are keeping the Veterans Affairs Department on the hot seat over “unauthorized purchases” of pharmaceuticals in violation of federal acquisition regulations, even as VA officials insist they’ve slashed the number of improper buys from more than 70,000 last September to 434 in March — a 99 percent drop.

At a Wednesday hearing before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, a panel of VA officials assured lawmakers that veterans were never put in danger or denied needed medications during the years when a computer system allowed pharmacy ordering officers to place orders outside the VA’s Pharmaceutical Prime Vender contract with McKesson Corp.

However, since the orders weren’t properly bid out to get the best price, VA violated federal purchasing laws. The committee first grilled VA about violations in February, though the violations may have begun as early as 1994, when the VA initiated its first Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor contract.
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