Nearly a year after a scandal rocked the Department of Veterans
Affairs, revealing that the agency's centers nationwide were
manipulating records to hide dangerously long patient wait times, the
bad news just keeps on coming -- calling into question the agency’s
promise to clean house.
Ignored claims, manipulated records, cost overruns and even one
facility infested with insects and rodents are among the latest issues
uncovered by a blistering
VA Inspector General’s report.
The auditor's probe found that more than 31,000 inquiries placed by
veterans to the Philadelphia Regional VA office call center went ignored
for more than 312 days, even though they were supposed to be answered
in five. Perhaps even worse, claim dates were manipulated to hide
delays, $2.2 million in improper payments were made because of duplicate
records, 22,000 pieces of returned mail went ignored and some 16,600
documents involving patient records and dating back to 2011 were never
scanned into the system.
“This report is as bleak as it gets, full of systemic malfeasance and deliberate data manipulation.”- Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla.
“This report is as bleak as it gets, full of systemic malfeasance and
deliberate data manipulation,” charged Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla.,
chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, in a statement
after the story broke April 15. “The Philadelphia VA Regional Office is
in crisis, brought on by years of mismanagement and encouraged by VA’s
longstanding refusal to hold employees accountable.”
The report also found that more than 150 employees were forced to
work in a dilapidated, leaky warehouse infested with insects and
rodents.
It wasn’t the only black eye for the VA, which has been trying to
pursue system-wide reforms since Robert McDonald took over for VA
Secretary Eric Shinseki, who resigned during last spring’s VA scandal.
After reports in April 2014 that some vets may have died waiting for
appointments with the Phoenix VA facility, the IG found that wait times
for thousands had been electronically manipulated while some 1,700 vets
were put on a secret list to cover up their long waits. It was later
revealed that 18 of those on the secret ledger died before getting their
appointments.
The scandal led to more whistleblowers and investigations, which
found that VAs nationwide either sidetracked or manipulated the wait
times for more than 57,000 veterans.
This week, lawmakers grilled VA officials on another front: reports
that the construction of a new VA facility in Denver, which has been in
the works for years, has so far cost a budget-busting $1.7 billion, and
is still incomplete. Officials have run out of money to pay for it.
Miller’s committee held a hearing this week at which members asked VA
officials why contract specialist Adelino Gorospe, who said he was
fired after warning department executives in 2011 that the hospital
would cost more than estimated, was fired, but Glenn Haggstrom, the VA’s
top construction executive, was able to retire with full pension
benefits amid the investigation.
“What’s most disappointing about this situation, however, is that
Haggstrom left on his own terms – with a lifetime pension – even though
any reasonable person would conclude that he should have been fired
years ago,” said Miller, calling the VA’s construction program, “a
disaster.”
The VA did not respond to an inquiry by Foxnews.com on Friday.
In response to the Philadelphia IG report, the VA said the findings
“reflect conditions a year ago.” Once issues were brought to their
attention by whistleblowers, reforms were already in high gear during
the IG’s inspection, first and foremost with a new director Diana
Rubens, who was brought in to tackle the reforms in July 2014.
"This is not a new thing, this is a last-year thing," Allison Hickey,
the VA's official in charge of benefits, told The Associated Press.
But the IG’s report rejects that notion, saying it was getting complaints as recently as last month.
Meanwhile, tensions also mounted over whether VA officials who
retaliated against whistleblowers have been held accountable during a
subcommittee on oversight hearing this week.
“If you want to send a message that wrong-doers are going to be held
accountable, you have to hold at least one person accountable,” charged
Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y.
Meghan Flanz, director of the VA’s Accountability Review, responded
by saying the agency had myriad investigations open and would take
measures when the evidence required it. However, she did not feel that a
new whistleblower protection bill mulled in the House would be
necessary.
“We will, whenever the evidence shows retaliation is engaged in, hold them accountable,” Flanz said.
Garry Augustine, executive director of the Disabled American Veterans
(DAV), agreed that VA’s continued bad press as each scandal is exposed
paints a grim picture. But he thinks much of this shows how much more
proactive the national office has been since last year.
“For too long, the VA has depended on reports coming into the central
office saying everything is fine, with no one taking a closer look,” he
told Foxnews.com. “This team is actually sifting through the garbage
and finding the nasty stuff… what’s rotten, and what needs to be fixed.”
One success story was reported by the
Tribune-Review earlier this month,
citing VA data that showed the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare system has all
but eliminated its secret waiting list, and cut the number of vets
waiting for more than 30 days for an appointment to half.
Hal Donahue, an Air Force veteran who writes about veterans issues
and works with the American Veterans Committee, agreed that McDonald –
who was confirmed last July -- is on the spot to clean up a huge mess
that has put thousands of veterans at risk of missing out on benefits
and getting timely health care.
“I’m seeing progress but it's like unraveling a big ball of knots,”
he told Foxnews.com. “The VA is so vast it’s going to take a while.”