Almost three years after long waits for medical appointments for veterans exploded into a nationwide scandal, the Phoenix VA hospital at the center of the crisis still is not providing timely care, a watchdog group documented this week.
Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner, whose office represents whistleblowers and investigates their claims, wrote in a letter to President Obama that two independent reviews have confirmed many allegations brought by a doctor at the Phoenix facility.
One review, by the inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said a veteran with heart trouble died last year while waiting for cardiology tests that could have saved him. Investigators also found that on a given day, 1,100 veterans in Phoenix have a longer-than-30-day wait to see a doctor. And during the period reviewed by investigators, 215 veterans died while waiting to see a specialist.
“In case after case since 2014, Phoenix VA whistleblowers have exposed and helped to correct serious problems with veterans’ care,” Lerner said in a statement. She thanked the whistleblower, Kuauhtemoc Rodriguez, chief of specialty care clinics in Phoenix, for his “courage” in coming forward.
The findings are likely to present challenges for President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, which has made improving care for veterans a priority. Continuing delays in care could bolster the case of agency critics, who say the government alone cannot meet the medical needs of all veterans, who should be able to turn to private doctors when they want.
When the scandal broke in 2014, senior managers in Phoenix and at other VA facilities were found to have instructed their staffs to deliberately cover up long waits for appointments. The reviews released on Monday did not find intentional mistakes, but rather, bureaucratic confusion: “Staff were generally unclear about specific consult management procedures, and services varied in their procedures and consult management responsibilities,” the Inspector General’s Office wrote.