VA Changed Appointment Wait Times in House VA Committee Chairman's Home State

While members Congress wants to blame the head of the VA, no matter who it is or when, they never seem to be able to apologize to veterans for what they failed to do. Veterans contact their elected officials all the time and they do complain. They have been complaining for decades about all of this. No member of congress can claim they didn't know about any of this but what is worse is, they think they can get away with the Sgt. Schultz Excuse of "I know nothing" when it was their jobs to not only know, but fix it! Now there is a report out of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman's home state of Florida.

Some Florida VA health facilities changed appointment requests to improve wait times
Pensacola News Journal
Ledyard King
July 28, 2014

VA executives are so driven in their quest for performance bonuses, promotions and power that they are willing to lie, cheat and put the health of the veterans they were hired to serve at risk,” (Jeff Miller)

Details of an internal VA audit of improper scheduling practices were released Monday were referred last month to the agency’s inspector general for further review.

WASHINGTON – Schedulers at the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic at Eglin Air Force Base were told to improve wait times by changing the date veterans requested a medical appointment so it appeared they got treated within 14 days of their request.

Staff at the VA’s medical center at Bay Pines health center in St. Petersburg were encouraged to align appointment dates requested by veterans with the actual dates they received medical care.

Workers at the Joint Ambulatory Care Center in Pensacola kept a paper list of patients to call back about appointments because they were confused about what to log in the VA’s computerized calendar.

Details of an internal VA audit conducted in May of improper scheduling practices were released Monday, shedding light as to why 112 VA medical facilities — including six in Florida — were referred last month to the agency’s inspector general for further review.
read more here