DETROIT, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Detroit’s VA Medical Center was caught polishing peer-review ratings to make bad surgical outcomes look routine. Now Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan wants a law that stops insiders from rewriting their own report cards.

Peters’ VA Peer Neutrality Act returns in direct response to a 2022 inquiry that found officials at Detroit’s John D. Dingell VA Medical Center altered external peer reviews in ways that hid ongoing concerns about surgical quality.

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Investigators found cases downgraded from serious “Level 3” ratings—signaling care that fell outside what competent clinicians would do—to routine “Level 1” designations 11 times for a single provider.

The VA’s Office of the Medical Inspector called the tampering “a pattern of substandard care” stretching over at least two years. A follow-up review requested by Peters raised fresh doubts about whether the Midtown Detroit facility ever fixed the problem.

Peters’ bill would require that any VA staff member with a conflict of interest, including those involved in the underlying case, be barred from sitting on peer-review committees. Reviews involving committee members themselves would have to be sent to a neutral VA facility for a final determination.

The proposal is co-sponsored by Michigan’s other U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D) and Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.).

The misconduct previously led to the removal of several top officials at the Detroit VA, including its medical director in 2023.