VA Used 'Gaming Strategies' to Cook the Books
Disturbing new revelations have come to light about the strategies used by VA clinics to hide delays in treating veterans.
According to the reports, some clinics scheduled fake appointments, kept unofficial logs, and made appointments without informing the patient.
Later, they would cancel and then reschedule the appointment to make it appear they'd been trying to help veterans in a timely manner.
"Please be cautioned... additional new or modified gaming strategies may have emerged, so do not consider this list a full description of all current possibilities of... practices that need to be addressed," William Schoenhard, then-VA deputy undersecretary for health operations and management, said.
The "gaming strategies" made it appear that veterans were getting appointments within target times set by the Veterans Affairs Department.
"As soon as new directives are put out, they're torn apart to find out how to get around the requirements," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash, said at a hearing earlier this month.
These strategies are not new. VA officials, veteran service organizations, and members of Congress have known about them for years.
"It's not that people haven't brought this up before," Vietnam Veterans of America's Richard Weidman said in an interview. "It's just the word 'secret' lists [that] blew it up in the media. They weren't secret, they were handwritten logs kept aside from computerized scheduling. People should stop the hysteria and say what the root of this problem is."
In Colorado, an estimated 500,000 veterans are still waiting for hospital treatment promised to them 10 years ago. On Tuesday some of those vets came out to the construction site in Aurora, Colorado, to protest the delays.
One veteran began to cry as he explained what fellow vets have been going through.
"We kept our word. We served honorably... and in return..." he trailed off in tears.
"I don't hate the VA. They['ve] got some of greatest caregivers in [the] world, but management [has] got to change," veteran Tom Bock said.
One hospital is $500 million over budget, and 16 contractors are suing the VA for lack of payment.
Cooking the books at VA hospitals went public with allegations that up to 40 patients may have died waiting for care at the VA hospital in Phoenix.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered a 90-day review of the military health care system.
