Healthcare Inspection - Quality of Care Provided at Corpus Christi Community Based Outpatient Clinic VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System Harlingen, Texas

We evaluated the validity of allegations regarding quality of care at the Corpus Christi Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Corpus Christi, TX. We substantiated the allegation that a CBOC primary care provider did not diagnose a patient’s fractured ankle when the patient presented for evaluation. The facility had taken appropriate action prior to our review. We substantiated that a CBOC primary care provider prescribed antibiotics without first obtaining wound cultures. The primary care provider acknowledged that his usual practice to obtain a specimen for culture when drainage was present in a wound prior to starting antibiotics. We identified two factors that affected this patient’s care: • Failure to implement the facility’s Skin Integrity Management Program Policy for managing the skin integrity of outpatients. • Fee-basis records are not always available in the medical record. The facility identified opportunities for improvement prior to our review. We found their plan acceptable. We recommended that the Medical Center Director ensure that the CBOC follow the Skin Integrity Management Program Policy. The Director concurred with our findings. We will follow up until the planned actions are completed.