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The "elaborate scheme," implemented by top management, was an effort to hide that 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans waited months to see a doctor, said CNN, citing a former Veterans Administration doctor and other agency staff. The secret list also gave the appearance of shorter appointment wait times, which were reported back to Washington, according to the story. The report quotes a recently retired doctor from the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Dr. Sam Foote, who explained the protocol for misreporting appointment requests.
According to Foote, when vets requested a medical appointment, their info would be entered into hospital computers but not saved. A screen grab of the actual appointment data was printed, added to the secret electronic list, then shredded, erasing any public record that the actual appointment was made. "So the only record that you have ever been there requesting care was on that secret list," Foote said in the CNN story. "And they wouldn't take you off that secret list until you had an appointment time that was less than 14 days so it would give the appearance that they were improving greatly the waiting times, when in fact they were not."
The article references the family of a 71-year-old Navy veteran who had difficulty getting a follow-up appointment after they rushed him to the Phoenix VA emergency room because of blood in his urine. Despite a history of cancer and a chart identifying him as urgent, Thomas Breen’s family could not get him in for an appointment. Breen’s wife said she called daily for appointments from late September 2013 through November. Breen died Nov. 30. “They called me December 6,” his wife Sally told CNN.
The Phoenix VA Health Care System responded to the story, writing they would “welcome the results from the Office of Inspector General’s review.” The statement went on: “We acknowledge Phoenix VA Health Care System has had longstanding issues with Veterans accessing care and have taken numerous actions to meet demand, while we continue to serve more Veterans and enhance our services.” Lawmakers have since called that all records at the Phoenix VA be preserved, according to CNN.
CNN: At least 40 vets died while waiting for care at Phoenix VA - Veterans - Stripes
Thousands of veterans have been kept waiting for care, according to a story first reported in the Arizona Republic, and later on CNN, which also said that VA workers in the Phoenix office used two sets of records to keep the long wait times off the official books. “I am troubled when I hear any veteran may have received substandard care from the VA,” said the committee chairman, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent. “I take these allegations very seriously.”
The VA’s inspector general in Washington has sent a team to investigate, the senator said, adding that he would hold his hearing after the work is complete. On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wrote in a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki that any workers involved must be “held accountable.” McCain and fellow Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake asked for the Senate hearing. “I cannot express how troubling these allegations are to me as a veteran,” McCain said.
The Arizona Republic’s initial report, published in mid-April, was based on information released during a hearing in Washington, when the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., testified about the problems at the Phoenix VA Health Care Center.
The story has drawn strong reaction on Capitol Hill from lawmakers. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., said veterans officials “need to get to the bottom of this right away.” And Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, who also called for a Senate investigation, said “reports of these ‘secret lists’ are disgraceful.”
Senate to investigate veterans' deaths at Phoenix VA facility - Veterans - Stripes
Phoenix VA Health Care System Director Sharon Helman and associate director Lance Robinson would be placed on leave "until further notice," U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said. The third employee was not identified in a statement Shinseki issued from Washington. The Phoenix facility has been under fire in recent weeks over allegations that up to 40 patients may have died because of delays in care and that the hospital kept a secret list of patients waiting for appointments to hide the treatment delays. Earlier Thursday, before the announcement that she would be placed on leave, Helman and the hospital's chief of staff denied any knowledge of a secret list and said they had found no evidence of patient deaths due to delayed care. "We take those allegations very seriously," Helman told The Associated Press Thursday morning, noting she welcomed an independent review by the VA Office of Inspector General. Helman's office declined to comment after the announcement Thursday afternoon.
The claims are the latest to come to light as VA hospitals around the country struggle to handle the huge volume of patients who need medical attention, including aging vets from World War II, Korea and Vietnam and a newer influx from wars over the last decade. In the past year, VA facilities in South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Washington state have been linked to delays in patient care or poor oversight. Shinseki said the move to put the Phoenix officials on leave was requested by the inspector general's office, which has sent investigators to the facility. "We believe it is important to allow an independent, objective review to proceed," Shinseki said. "These allegations, if true, are absolutely unacceptable and if the Inspector General's investigation substantiates these claims, swift and appropriate action will be taken."
Phoenix VA Health Care System main campus
Helman said before the announcement that she takes her job very seriously and is personally offended by the claims of misconduct. "I have given over 20 years of service to this mission. I am proud to lead this hospital," Helman said. "I have never wavered from the ethical standards that I have held my entire career, and I will continue to give these veterans what they deserve, which is the best health care." On Tuesday, three Arizona congressmen called for Helman to step down amid allegations of gross mismanagement and neglect at the facility. Republican Reps. David Schweikert, Matt Salmon and Trent Franks also sent a letter to Shinseki, asking him to remove Helman and her leadership team.
Salmon said Thursday that the VA chief made the right decision. "Hopefully, this is the first step in rebuilding the trust and restoring the confidence that our Arizona veterans have lost in our VA system," the congressman said in a statement. But the nation's head of veteran health services told a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday in Washington that a preliminary review found nothing to support the allegations leveled against the Phoenix hospital system and its leadership. "To date, we have found no evidence of a secret list, and we have found no patients who have died because they have been on a wait list," said Robert Petzel, undersecretary for health at the VA's Veterans Health Administration. Dr. Samuel Foote, who had worked for the Phoenix VA for more than 20 years before retiring in December, brought the allegations to light and says supervisors ignored his complaints. He accused Arizona VA leaders of collecting bonuses for reducing patient wait times, but he said the purported successes resulted from data manipulation rather than improved service for veterans, and that up to 40 patients died while awaiting care.
VA suspends 3 officials amid Phoenix VA probe - Veterans - Stripes
Senators demand investigation into the cover up at the Phoenix VA hospital. Senator McCain is going to find out who is responsible for this mistreatment of our veterans that in 40 plus cases ended up in the men dying.
YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE SENATOR. IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!!!!!!!!
VA leadership has held off on disciplining anyone in the outbreak, linked to at least six deaths and 16 illnesses from February 2011 to November 2012, because of investigations by federal prosecutors and internal watchdogs. VHA leadership has initiated actions with careful consideration of the statutory protections and rights of employees, including due process, VA spokeswoman Ramona Joyce said. While we are focused on completing this process in a timely manner, VHA's priority is to complete these actions objectively and consistent with applicable administrative guidelines and due process. When this process is complete, VA will update Congress, consistent with appropriate privacy protections for the individuals involved, Joyce said in a statement.
She declined to say what actions were being taken or how many employees were involved. Members of Congress have criticized the VA for failing to discipline people after failures in Pittsburgh and elsewhere led to what they believe were preventable veteran deaths. Florida Republican Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, won the support of GOP leadership for a bill that would make it easier for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to fire people.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 2,500 workers at the VA Pittsburgh, has received no notices of discipline against its members, said J. Ward Morrow, the union's assistant general counsel. If they have evidence of (wrongdoing), it hasn't been shared with us, Morrow said. The union has tried to come forward as best we can to help investigators, he added.
http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/va-pursues-employee-discipline-in-pittsburgh-legionnaires-disease-outbreak-1.281159
