VA IG Report: Abuses Uncovered In Phoenix A 'Systemic Problem Nationwide'

Yesterday, the VA Inspector General has released an interim report on the Phoenix VA health system. It found that more than 1,700 veterans were not included in the facilities records, and that patients were waiting at least 115 days for first appointments. Moreover, the report declared that "inappropriate scheduling practices are a systemic problem nationwide."

Today in Washington, D.C. - May 29, 2014
The Senate is not in session today. It will reconvene for a pro forma session on Friday at 2 PM and then return for legislative business on Monday, June 2nd.

The House reconvened today at 10 AM. They will initially consider certain members to standing committees. They they will take up: H.R. 4660 — "Making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015, and for other purposes."

Yesterday the House passed:
H. Res. 599 (379-1) - "Urging the Government of the People's Republic of China to respect the freedom of assembly, expression, and religion and all fundamental human rights and the rule of law for all its citizens and to stop censoring discussion of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and their violent suppression."
H.R. 2527 (Voice Vote) — "To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide veterans with counseling and treatment for sexual trauma that occurred during inactive duty training."
H.R. 4587 (Voice Vote) — "To impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for carrying out or ordering human rights abuses against the citizens of Venezuela, and for other purposes."
H.R. 2942 (Voice Vote) — "To amend title 38, United States Code, to reestablish the Professional Certification and Licensure Advisory Committee of the Department of Veterans Affairs."
H.R. 3366 (Voice Vote) — "To provide for the release of the property interests retained by the United States in certain land conveyed in 1954 by the United States, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, to the State of Oregon for the establishment of the Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center of Oregon State University in Hermiston, Oregon."
H.R. 4028 (Voice Vote) — "To amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include the desecration of cemeteries among the many forms of violations of the right to religious freedom."
H.R. 4261 (voice Vote) — "To improve the research of Gulf War Illness, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, and for other purposes."
H.R. 4587 (Voice Vote) — "To impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for carrying out or ordering human rights abuses against the citizens of Venezuela, and for other purposes."
H.R. 503 (370-0)— "To authorize the National Desert Storm Memorial Association to establish the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial as a commemorative work in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes."
S. 611(Voice Vote) — "To make a technical amendment to the T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Trust Area Act, and for other purposes."

Today, Gary L. Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, noted that there was an unusual late-night hearing on Capitol Hill last night as top officials from the Veterans Administration appeared before the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The hearing began at 7:30 p.m., just hours after the release of a damning inspector general's report, and concluded just before midnight.

In addition to its findings of lost patients and outrageously long wait times, yesterday's VA report stated that 42 VA medical facilities are under investigation, up from 26 hospitals a week ago.   This latest IG report greatly eroded what little support VA Secretary Eric Shinseki had left on Capitol Hill. As of this writing, 16 House Democrats and eight Senate Democrats have publicly demanded Shinseki's resignation.

Others, like Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), are calling for a criminal investigation of the VA by the Justice Department. Sen. Blumenthal said recently that there was "credible and specific evidence of criminal wrongdoing across the country in more than thirty places."

Yesterday Rush Limbaugh reminded his audience of how Obama attacked doctors in 2009, accusing them without any evidence of needlessly cutting off people's feet for profit.

Bauer summarized today, "Think about that for a moment. Obama smeared doctors to advance his agenda of a big government takeover of the private health care system. Now we find out what is going on in his VA. There's no evidence of unnecessary surgeries, but there is plenty of evidence that many of our heroes who needed surgeries could not get them.  And what about that profit motive? As the inspector general's report stated, the main reason for the falsified records and wait lists was so that the bureaucrats could get cash bonuses.  This sorry episode is more evidence of Obama's big government, socialist mindset. He shamelessly attacked private sector doctors while promising that in the world of Obamacare, the government will do everything better, cheaper and with more compassion. The evidence is overwhelming that the government system is corrupt, but Obama continues to dissemble.".

The New York Times wrote yesterday, “In the first confirmation that Department of Veterans Affairs administrators manipulated medical waiting lists at one and possibly more hospitals, the department’s inspector general reported on Wednesday that 1,700 patients at the veterans medical center in Phoenix were not placed on the official waiting list for doctors’ appointments and may never have received care. The scathing report by Richard J. Griffin, the acting inspector general, validates allegations raised by whistle-blowers and others that Veterans Affairs officials in Phoenix employed artifices to cloak long waiting times for veterans seeking medical care. Mr. Griffin said the average waiting time in Phoenix for initial primary care appointments, 115 days, was nearly five times as long as what the hospital’s administrators had reported. He suggested that the falsified data may have led to more favorable performance reviews for hospital personnel, and he indicated that some instances of potentially manipulated data had been turned over to the Justice Department. Mr. Griffin said that similar kinds of manipulation to hide long and possibly growing waiting times were ‘systemic throughout’ the sprawling Veterans Affairs health care system, with its 150 medical centers serving eight million veterans each year. The inspector general’s office is reviewing practices at 42 Veterans Affairs medical facilities.”

The Daily Beast’s Jacob Siegel points out, “Just last week, top leaders including VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and President Obama were wondering aloud whether the VA’s problems were limited to a few bad actors. Now, they don’t have to wonder. Messing with schedules to hide long wait times for veterans seeking medical care is ‘systemic’ in the VA’s health-care system, according to a new report from the VA’s Office of Inspector General. And those ‘scheduling schemes’ are placing veterans at risk. The new report’s official judgment should resolve any doubt about how deep and widespread these issues are. As of Wednesday, when the report was released, the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) investigation had expanded to 42 separate VA facilities. Increased calls for political action came swiftly in the report's wake and focused on VA Secretary Shinseki.

“‘I haven’t said this before, but I think it’s time for Gen. Shinseki to move on,’ Sen. John McCain said in an appearence on CNN Wednesday. Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, responded to the report with a statement that said Shinseki should ‘resign immediately.’ Less than a week ago Rep. Jeff Miller was calling for Shinseki to stay at his post until the OIG completed its investigation, but he changed course after reviewing the interim report’s findings. In his statement Miller called Shinseki a ‘good man who has served his country honorably,’ but said that he seemed ‘completely oblivious to the severity of the health care challenges facing the department’ and that it was ‘time for him to go.’”

And The Washington Post adds, “The inspector general’s report, a 35-page interim document, prompted new calls for VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, a former general and Vietnam veteran, to resign. Some of the calls on Capitol Hill were from members of President Obama’s party, complicating what is already a political challenge for a president who has made veterans issues a legacy-defining priority after more than a decade of war. . . . The report helps clarify allegations that have swirled around VA for weeks. White House officials said Obama had been briefed on its findings and found them ‘extremely troubling.’ Capitol Hill’s reaction was sharper. Several Republicans called for Shinseki’s resignation, including Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), a leading voice on military and foreign affairs; Rep. Jeff Miller (Fla.), who heads the House Veterans’ Affairs committee; and Rep. Howard ‘Buck’ McKeon (Calif.), who leads the House Armed Services Committee. . . . Miller joined a growing list of lawmakers who are asking the Justice Department to launch a formal criminal investigation. McCain, who is on that list, said in a statement: ‘It is alarming that Secretary Shinseki either wasn’t aware of these systemic problems, or wasn’t forthcoming in his communications with Congress about them. Either way, it is clear to me that new leadership is needed at the VA.’ While several top congressional leaders have said Shinseki should remain in office to help address the sprawling department’s problems, a series of Democratic lawmakers also joined the calls for Shinseki’s resignation.”

Yet last week Senate Democrats blocked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) from passing his simple bill to make it easier to hold people in the VA accountable for all this.

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “The denial of care to our veterans is a national disgrace. And the scandal only seems to increase in scope by the day. . . . Our veterans are counting on him to work with both parties to get to the truth, and to pursue solutions that can make things better. Solutions like the VA reform bill that passed the House just yesterday with a strong bipartisan majority. That legislation, which I’ve co-sponsored and which Senator Rubio has led on, would make it easier to remove high-level VA employees for performance failures. It’s a smart idea. There’s no reason for us not to pass it quickly here in the Senate. And the President should call for its passage right away too.”

So the big questions are: Will the president finally make this important first step in the wake of this scathing IG report? And will Senate Democrats stop blocking the House and Senate bills addressing VA reform?

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