A new report is warning of 'a significant risk' of addiction and health complications for veterans who are prescribed opioid prescriptions outside the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The July report from the VA Office of Inspector General found that the VA is having communications problems with the private-sector healthcare providers they hire to treat veterans — problems that could lead to overprescription of addictive opioid drugs for pain management. The problem, according to the IG report, is that a veteran's private providers and VA doctors are not always talking to each other, and as a result, they may work at cross-purposes. The report is available on the VA Office of Inspector General website.
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