U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) sent a letter this week to Senators Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Richard Burr (R-NC), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, requesting that the Committee investigate and hold hearings on recent reports of gross mismanagement and neglect at the Phoenix VA Health Care Center (PVAHCS), including allegations that the deaths of forty veterans may be related to delays in care.
Last week, a Concerned Veterans for America’s rally was held in Phoenix, which was organized to bring attention to mismanagement in the Phoenix VA Health Care System and the need for congressional reform.
Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar said in a statment read at the event, “It is no secret that the Department of Veterans Affairs is failing countless veterans all over this great nation. For years now, our servicemen and women have waited extraordinary amounts of time for the benefits promised to them. Initial responses to claims still hover close to 1 year, with appeals taking even longer. It is with a heavy heart that I say many of these veterans simply give up. They feel abandoned by the country they fought for, and they either discontinue their pursuit of their rightful benefits, or worse, they give up on life completely. Such instances are all too common today, and it is absolutely heartbreaking.”
Gosar noted a recent study conducted by the House Veterans Affairs Committee that “showed that as many as 40 veterans may have died as a result of the lengthy waits for care in the Phoenix VA Health Care System.” Said Gosar, “As you may have seen in a recent editorial in The Arizona Republic, apparently these VA workers are going so far as to keep two completely separate sets of records so they may conceal these ridiculously long wait times. Enough is enough.”
Gosar echoed the words in the editorial; ‘Let the heads begin to roll.’
Gosar has co-sponsored Congressman Jeff Miller’s bill, H.R.4031, also known as the Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act. The bill would amend current law to allow the Secretary of the VA to terminate senior executives at the VA who have failed at their jobs.
Senator McCain also sent a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki requesting information from the VA on these serious allegations. Text of the letter is here.
April 23, 2014
The Honorable Bernie Sanders
Chairman
U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
412 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-6050
The Honorable Richard Burr
Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
412 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-6050
Dear Chairman Sanders and Ranking Member Burr:
As you know, on April 10, 2014, the Arizona Republic reported that the deaths of forty veterans may be related to delays in care at the Phoenix VA Health Care Center (PVAHCS). Due to the severity of these allegations, we request that the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs investigate and hold a hearing to examine the matter.
This article was published after Chairman Miller of the House Veterans Affairs Committee testified during a hearing that he had evidence suggesting that PVAHCS officials manipulated schedules in order to make it appear that patients received appointments faster than they actually did. This raises concern that officials have been misusing the Electronic Waiting List system employed by all VA Health Centers and keeping a non-official list outside of standard VA procedures. In fact, it has been suggested that PVAHCS staff may have used this non-official electronic list to queue veterans until an appointment became available within their 24-25 days waiting period, at which point veterans were transferred to the official waiting list despite the fact that the appointment request was made much earlier. One major consequence of the supposed two-list system is that veterans’ actual wait times could have been significantly longer than what is reported by Phoenix VA officials.
Regardless of whether these deaths were caused by mismanagement by PVAHCS officials or intentional manipulation, the allegations appear indicative of broader trends that we have observed regarding the VA’s apparent failure to provide quality healthcare to our veterans. As you undoubtedly appreciate, VA must use its resources to address veterans’ concerns in an effective, efficient, and timely manner. American veterans deserve to have an agency that respects their sacrifice to this country by putting their needs first.
We request that a hearing draw attention to serious problems at PVAHCS and to explore what steps can be taken by the VA to stop similar situations in the future around the country. Thank you for the consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
John McCain
United States Senator
Jeff Flake
United States Senator