Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
VA audit reveals ‘systemic problems’
57,000 veterans across U.S. waited more than 90 days for appointment
Nationwide report released Monday shows more than 57,000 veterans waited more than 90 days for medical appointments.
WASHINGTON — More than 57,000 veterans have waited more than 90 days for a medical appointment at a VA facility, according to a nationwide audit released Monday.
The internal review of 731 veterans’ medical facilities also showed that an additional 63,900 veterans who enrolled in the VA health system during the past 10 years haven’t received appointments.
“This data shows the extent of the systemic problems we face,” said Sloan Gibson, acting Veterans Affairs secretary in a statement about the audit, which provided the first look at wait times at each of the nation’s major VA medical facilities.
Medical care for the nation’s 22.1million veterans has become a top priority for Congress amid reports that the Veterans Health Administration, the country’s largest integrated health system, hid excessive waits for veterans trying to see a doctor.
About half of the 1.9 million troops discharged after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan have come back to the U.S. in need of medical care, VA data show.
“This audit is absolutely infuriating and underscores the depth of this scandal,” said Paul Rieckhoff, chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, called the audit “more disturbing proof that corruption is ingrained in many parts of the VA health care system.”
The audit also concluded that the department’s goal of trying to schedule veterans within 14 days of their desired appointment dates was “simply not attainable,” and creating the expectation that patients could be seen that quickly represented “an organizational leadership failure.”
The goal is thought to have contributed to VA staff falsifying records to mask long waits.
Sloan said the VA is eliminating the 14-day scheduling goal from employee performance contracts to “eliminate incentives to engage in inappropriate scheduling practices” and is suspending senior bonuses for this year.
The agency is taking a number of actions in response to the audit, Sloan said, including contacting thousands of veterans who have been waiting for care to schedule them at a VA facility or with a private doctor, providing $300 million to accelerate health care and dispatching mobile medical units to VA facilities to help reduce wait times.
The audit is likely to stoke debate on Capitol Hill over whether the VA has enough funding, as the House and Senate prepare to take up legislation that would allow more veterans facing long waits at VA facilities to seek private care.
“Based on the findings of the audit, VA will critically review its performance management, education and communication systems to determine how performance goals were conveyed across the chain of command such that some front-line, middle and senior managers felt compelled to manipulate VA’s scheduling processes,” the audit said.
“This behavior runs counter to VA’s core values; the overarching environment and culture which allowed this state of practice to take root must be confronted head-on if VA is to evolve to be more capable of adjusting systems, leadership and resources to meet the needs of veterans and families,” the audit continued. “It must also be confronted in order to regain the trust of the veterans that VA serves.”
The audit led to new calls for President Barack Obama to create an independent commission to review veterans’ care and for the Justice Department to play a bigger role in the investigation.
The VA audit is separate from a VA inspector general’s investigation that found a systemic problem nationwide in scheduling veterans for health care in a timely manner.
The inspector general’s investigation, which could lead to criminal charges, is expected to be complete in August.
The internal audit was ordered by then-Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and confirmed the scheduling manipulation cited by the inspector general’s report.
A summary of the audit, which Shinseki delivered to Obama along with his letter of resignation May 30, found that 13 percent of the scheduling staffers received instructions to enter a date different from the one requested by the patient.