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Exposed: How the VA Red-Flags ‘Disruptive’ Vets

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Photo Credit: TownHall Imagine how much better off America’s veterans would be if the federal government spent more time delivering actual care and less time compiling tyrannical lists. The death-inducing secret waiting lists for patients are just the tip of the iceberg.

Did you know, for example, that the VA keeps a database on “disgruntled” and “disruptive” vets that results in arbitrarily restricted care?

Disabled Air Force veteran and veterans advocate/attorney Benjamin Krause has been raising questions about the system for months and warning his peers. Under the VA policy on “patient record flags” (PRFs), federal bureaucrats can classify vets as “threats” based on assessments of their “difficult,” “annoying” and “non-compliant” behavior.

The VA manual says the flags “are used to alert Veterans Health Administration medical staff and employees of patients whose behavior and characteristics may pose a threat either to their safety, the safety of other patients, or compromise the delivery of quality health care.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Another VA Medical Center Scandal

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Photo Credit: U.S. Air Force / Senior Airman Daniel HughesA failure to scan outsourced medical records has caused an approximate three- to five-month backlog at the Memphis Veteran Administration Medical Center, The Daily Caller has learned.

TheDC was exclusively given a photo snapped of the medical records room on June 12, 2014. In the photo, hundreds of unprocessed medical records sit idly, causing delays of up to five months.

According to a whistle-blower who wished to remain anonymous because they are still employed by the Memphis VA Medical Center, the medical records room is for entering test results and other medical data that occurs after a patient is outsourced for medical tests or procedures.

A recent audit by the VA found the Memphis VA Medical Center had an average wait time for the initial appointment of fifty days, which flagged this facility for extra inspections.

The medical records shown in the photo are generated when the VA refers a patient to another hospital for further medical procedures. Medical tests like colonoscopies, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and X-rays, are among the tests that can be performed by an outside hospital, said the whistle-blower.

Read more from this story HERE.

Furious Veteran Montel Williams DONE Dealing With VA: ‘We Need To Shut This Organization Down’

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Photo credit: APTwnty-two-year military veteran and talk show host Montel Williams escalated his crusade against the Veterans Administration on Monday, calling for many employees to be fired and declaring, “We need to shut this organization down.”

Williams appeared on Neil Cavuto’s Fox News program in the latest in a series of appearances since his fiery debut onto the VA scandal scene over two weeks ago.

Back then, Williams was upset with the president (not to mention The Daily Caller’s headline). But on Monday, he took specific aim at VA employees, many of whom he feels are deliberately ignoring important fixes that would get veterans the appointments and care that they need.

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: VA Told Pittsburgh Hospital to Mislead Congress

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Photo Credit: APBy Washington Free Beacon Staff.

The Department of Veterans Affairs ordered a Pittsburgh VA hospital to block attempts by two congressmen to find out about hundreds of patients languishing on the hospital’s wait list, according to a CNN report.

Congressional sources told CNN that Rep. Tim Murphy (R., Penn.) received a call from Pittsburgh VA director and CEO Terry Gerigk Wolf, who said that the hospital had passed an internal audit on patient wait times “with flying colors.”

“It is my belief the purpose of the unannounced call was not to provide me the facts on patient wait times at the Pittsburgh VA, but was a smokescreen to prevent me from understanding what exactly was going on there,” Murphy told CNN. “I’ve heard the ‘all is okay’ message in midst of management failures too many times from the VA to believe it on face value ever again.”

The congressman compared notes with his fellow western Pennsylvanian, Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: TownHall BREAKING: Phoenix FBI Office Launches Criminal Investigation Into VA Scandal

By Katie Pavlich.

Since revelations of secret wait lists and veteran deaths at VA medical facilities surfaced two months ago, lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have been pressing the Department of Justice to open up a criminal investigation into the ongoing VA scandal. According to CBS News, the FBI office in Phoenix has launched that criminal probe.

Read more from this story HERE.

Acting VA Secretary: 18 Vets On Phoenix Wait List Died

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Photo Credit: David Wallace, The Arizona RepublicInvestigators have determined that more than 100,000 veterans nationwide were kept off waiting lists for medical appointments, and Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson said the nation will learn Monday how many patients were relegated to “secret lists.”

During a news conference Thursday at the Carl T. Hayden Medical Center in Phoenix, where the VA medical scandal erupted, Gibson also disclosed that at least 18 Arizona veterans died while awaiting doctor appointments, though it remains unclear whether the delayed care is to blame for those fatalities.

Gibson said he had details on 14 of the deaths and it appeared most had contacted the VA for “end of life care.”

“None of that excuses us,” said Gibson. “These lists were not being worked — inexcusable.”

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Welcome to Obama’s America — Where Corruption, Scandal and Lawlessness Reign (+video)

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / KEVIN LAMARQUE…Welcome to Barack Obama’s America — where corruption, scandal and lawlessness reign, where truth, justice and integrity went right into that same garbage can and make no mistake, you’re next. Folks, it ain’t going to get better. Get ready because ObamaCare will do the same to you. Yesterday, VA Secretary [Eric] Shinseki resigned. So do I feel better? No. Will it bring back our dead veterans? No. Will it bring solace to their families? No. But, not to worry. The president is on it. He’ll make everyone accountable. He will take away their 2014 bonuses. Really? God help us.

Read more from this story HERE.

VA Hospital Axed Veteran Programs While Approving $1 Million In Bonuses

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Larry DowningThe Memphis Veteran Administration (VA) Medical Center approved over $1 million in bonuses months before closing a therapeutic aquatic pool citing a lack of funds.

The Memphis VA Medical Center handed out $1,005,644 in bonuses for its approximately 2,000 employees in fiscal year 2010, according to data provided to The Daily Caller by Sandra Glover, the communications officer for Veteran Integrated Services Network (VISN) 9, which includes the Memphis VA Medical Center. Glover told TheDC that cost factored into the decision to close the therapeutic aquatic pool in July 2011.

In a statement prepared for TheDC, Glover said that bonuses and capital improvement projects come from separate pools of money, and that the VA outsources aquatic care to veterans at VA expense.

“The Memphis VA Medical Center is committed to honoring veterans with safe, high quality, accessible care earned through their service to the country,” the statement reads. “By law, funds for specific purposes cannot be used for anything other than what they’ve been appropriated for. It is a management decision to consider the cost benefit of maintaining programs and services within the organization.”

“No veteran has been denied services as a result of the closure of the therapeutic pool closure,” the statement continued. “Any patient that requires aqua therapy as a result of their plan of care will be referred to an accredited aqua therapy program in the private sector at VA expense.”

Read more from this story HERE.

WATCH: Sarah Palin – Illegal Aliens Get Better Healthcare Than Our Veterans

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Photo Credit: YouTubeBy Michael Hausam.

As usual, Palin’s comments are sure to ignite those who disagree with her politics, or dislike her personally:

Isn’t it ironic that those who are willing to sacrifice all, to put their life on the line, to allow the freedom of choices in healthcare and economic decisions and everything else, our soldiers, airmen, marines — they are the ones getting screwed by the VA! And our commander-in-chief is in charge of this, ultimately.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Officials Under Fire For Dumping Illegal Immigrants In U.S.

By Fox News.

Scores of illegal immigrants, caught by authorities in Texas trying to sneak into the country via the Rio Grande Valley, are being flown, bused and then abandoned out of state in places like Arizona, New York and Maryland.

If the immigrants had been from Mexico, authorities would release them back across the border. But these would-be immigrants come from Central American countries, such as El Salvador and Guatemala, and trying to get them back to their country of origin has been a costly and largely unsuccessful endeavor.

Lawmakers in Arizona, which has been battling for years to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the state, wasted no time blasting the practice.

“What an astonishing failure of leadership at every level inside the Beltway,” said Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Smith.

Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told Reuters, “essentially, they have gotten successfully into the country and it’s unlikely that they’re going to leave.”

https://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2014/05/30/officials-under-fire-for-dumping-illegal-immigrants-in-us/

Read more from this story HERE.

Shinseki Resigns Over Growing VA Scandal

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsPresident Obama announced Friday that embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki would take the fall for the rapidly growing scandal over veterans’ health care, accepting his resignation under pressure from members of both parties.

The president announced that Shinseki would resign after they met at the White House and he received an update on an internal review of the problems at the VA. The review showed the problems were not limited to just a few facilities, Obama said, adding: “It’s totally unacceptable. Our veterans deserve the best.”

On the heels of those and other findings, Obama said, “Secretary Shinseki offered me his own resignation — with considerable regret, I accepted.”

He said Shinseki told him he did not want to be a distraction. “I agree,” Obama said. “We don’t have time for distractions. We need to fix the problem.”

The president had faced mounting calls from members of both parties to remove Shinseki; those calls accelerated after a damning inspector general report on Wednesday. Shinseki suffered another blow on Friday when Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a former top VA official, called for her former boss’ resignation.

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

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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.

Read more from this story HERE.

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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.

Read more from this story HERE.

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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.”

Read more from this story HERE.