The Tomah Veteran's Administration Medical Center was steeped in controversy beginning in 2014.
The facility was accused of patient abuse and one person died resulting from a drug overdose. That case was formally settled for more than $1.5 million. Other cases of ill-advised prescription drug use also were reported.
Members of Congress came to Tomah to hear testimony about the Center with a subsequent report back to the main VA office and Congress. Since then, management and personnel have changed at the facility.
In a recent interview with WXPR, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilke said the situation at the Tomah facility had wide-reaching affects on the Veterans Administration..
"Tomah was the impetus for the ways this department now handles opioids. It is a great tragedy that we had to go through that, but the benefits that have come as the result of what the patients at Tomah were able to tell the country is immeasurable..."
Wilke outlines some of the changes...
"We've been able to reduce opioid prescriptions by about 51 percent. That's the most of any healthcare system in the country. We've actually begun to change the culture. We are now offering alternative therapies. Tai-Chi, yoga, aqua therapy. Tomah just opened a new golf course..."
Wilke says since the scandal, physicians in the VA are back to using aspirin and Tylenol for pain management instead of first giving out opioids. He says they've found that the combinations of old-school pain relievers have worked just as well without the side-effects of opioids.
