Investigative reports have found that Veterans Affairs (VA) chiefs falsified patient wait-times in seven states in the United States. The fabricated data showed these states were able to meet VA performance measures with shorter wait times.
The states involved in the falsification were New York, Vermont, Texas, Illinois, Arkansas, Delaware and California. For the first time, the new reports showed how rampant the VA wait-time manipulation really is throughout the department.
The last wait-time scandal happened in 2014 in Phoenix. Previously, investigations mentioned that the wait-time manipulation was "systematic." However, they did not release which cities were problematic. Past reports also did not detail the severity of the wait-time scandals.
In the new reports, investigators discovered that 40 VA medical facilities located in 19 states and in Puerto Rico "zeroed out" veteran wait-times on a regular basis. This falsification masked the increasing VA demands.
Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are returning and Vietnam veterans are aging. Both groups have increasing needs for health care but the wait-time falsification shrouded these demands.
The reports showed that in some cases, the system even "encouraged" such wait-time maneuvering even without clear orders from VA supervisors. For instance, VA schedulers in Harlingen, Texas disclosed that their supervisors criticized them when they booked VA appointments that show longer wait-times.
"And in classic VA fashion, almost no one has been seriously held accountable for any of this wrongdoing. In fact, according to VA's own data, the department has successfully fired just four low-level employees for wait-time manipulation," said Florida republican Rep. Jeff Miller, who is also the House Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman.
Following the Phoenix 2014 scandal, the inspector general conducted VA investigations in more than 100 facilities. The wait-time manipulation is so widespread that some facilities have been doing it for nearly 10 years.
The VA said disciplinary actions were already initiated on 29 individuals involved in the wait-time scandals. Three already resigned while the agency retrained thousands of VA schedulers.
The VA also released a pilot program that allows veterans to make their own appointments. The program is being tested in 10 facilities and is expected to roll out across the country soon.
"We've expanded appointments, we have added evening hours and weekend hours, we've added 3 million square feet of space, we've hired 14,000 new providers," said VA undersecretary for health Dr. David Shulkin.
Photo: Parker Knight | Flickr
