VA OIG: 1700 on secret list awaiting appointments

| May 29, 2014

Military.com reports that the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General’s preliminary report on their Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona reveals that 1700 veterans were on their “secret” list waiting for their appointments. In case you’re wondering; that’s a lot!

VA Acting Inspector General Richard Griffin, in a preliminary report released on Wednesday, offered no indication that any deaths are linked to the secret wait list and said the investigation is continuing at the Phoenix hospital along with 41 other facilities where complaints have been made.

“We identified an additional 1,700 veterans who were waiting for a primary care appointment but were not on the [electronic waiting list]. Until that happens, the reported wait time for these veterans has not started. Most importantly, these veterans were and continue to be at risk of being forgotten or lost in Phoenix HCS’s convoluted scheduling process,” the VA IG wrote in its report.

That’s just one hospital, there are 41 others being investigated. For the record, I’ve never had a problem getting an appointment at the VA. I called last week for an appointment out of the blue and I went to that appointment yesterday, so I have to think that it’s a regional thing.

Category: Politics

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Sparks

I posted this on Hondo’s article as well. Someone else here said it better. If we could put Congress into the VA system for healthcare, if would be fixed post haste and be a stellar healthcare organization.

Roger in Republic

The last WW II veteran in congress is retiring. Less than 20 percent of our representatives have served. And fewer still have children that have served. While I’m not saying that service should be a prerequisite to election, no congress will be as sympathetic to Veterans needs unless we get more veterans elected. They have no skin in the game as it now stands. Without vets in congress we will get platitudes and lip service and very little more except at Memorial day and election time. I always thought military service should be a prerequisite to voting, but that’s just me.