After IG Report Confirms VA Horrors, Carney Says There Will Be Accountability “If” Allegations Are True

Photo Credit: TownHallBy Katie Pavlich.

Less than 24 hours after a preliminary Veterans Affairs Inspector General report showed that not only was there widespread misconduct and excruciatingly long wait times at hospitals for veterans, but that the problem is worse than first reported, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said President Obama will wait for a broader review before making any further personnel decisions about the VA, specifically when it comes to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. Shinseki has been asked to resign by Republicans, Democrats and a number of veterans groups, including the American Legion.

“I’m not going to speculate about personnel [at the VA],” Carney said.

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VFW Calls For Immediate Firings At VA

By Debra Heine.

Following Wednesday’s release of the preliminary report by the VA Office of the Inspector General, the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) called on General Shinseki to immediately fire everyone who “knowingly gamed the reporting system.” Included among those the VFW says should be held accountable are those “in senior leadership who should have known but didn’t, or knew but didn’t care.”

“We call on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to immediately fire every employee and supervisor who knowingly gamed the reporting system,” demanded William A. Thien, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. “The VA is entrusted with the care and treatment of our nation’s heroes, and there are people in Phoenix and possibly elsewhere who failed miserably, and quite possibly, criminally,” he said. “There are no second chances when you deal with people’s lives, and that includes everyone in senior leadership who should have known but didn’t, or knew but didn’t care.”

“Military veterans are used to waiting in lines, but no veteran should ever have to wait for timely access to care for their wounds, illnesses and injuries, said Thien. “In light of the interim report, I want to make it clear to Secretary Shinseki that he needs to move immediately to terminate the employment of those bearing any responsibility for this travesty. And if the final IG report confirms willful negligence, then those responsible need to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Anything less will not be tolerated by the VFW.”

This represents a change in stance from Saturday, when the leadership of the VFW torched Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) for writing an open letter that was critical of unnamed veterans groups because they had not yet called for new leadership at the VA.

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Emails Track How VA Officials Conspired to Manipulate Wait Times

By Melissa Clyne.

Despite years of repeated complaints and evidence showing patient wait-time fraud at the Central Texas VA, the inspector general never held anyone accountable and even bestowed the Robert W. Carey Performance Excellence Award on the facility, The Daily Beast reports.

A Texas whistleblower provided the publication with emails and internal memos detailing “how high-level VA hospital employees conspired to game the system” by doing things like entering the next available appointment date instead of a patient’s desired appointment date into the computer system, according to The Daily Beast, which was often a difference of weeks and months.

Fifty percent of VA executives’ “field bonus” pay hinged on wait times, according to the whistleblower.

This “low-risk, high-reward form of cheating” was pervasive throughout the VA, the whistleblower said, yet the outcome of a 2011 inspector general investigation that found “significant delays” and “widespread manipulation” of appointments didn’t result in disciplinary action against any VA officials.

“Every doctor, nurse, and clerk in the hospital knows it’s true, but the VA’s investigative team wasn’t able to find any evidence,” the whistleblower said. “They didn’t interview any of us or really try to find out what was going on. This was reported in 2011 and it’s still not fixed today.”

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