Zack Space Angry Over New Veterans Healthcare Scandal
Rep Zack Space has some pretty strong words regarding the recent revelation that Veterans Affairs (VA) appointment schedulers have been manipulating patient wait-time statistics to get performance based bonuses.
“Padding wait-time statistics to pad bureaucrat’s pocketbooks smacks of the worst kind of abuse of the system. Not only does it cost the taxpayers money, but – even more egregiously – it causes suffering for our heroes who selflessly answered the call to serve.
“I am demanding that the VA put a stop to this practice. If there are administrators out there deliberately instructing their subordinates to falsify data to make their facility look better, that is unethical at best and criminal at worst. We need answers.
“This is exactly the reason why we have Congressional oversight on the VA. This news combined with the bonus scandal earlier this year continues to cast a shadow of doubt as to where the priorities of the VA lie. We should be 100% focused on serving veterans – not administrators.”
– Rep. Zack Space
This statement comes after testimony before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations yesterday revealed that, according to the release, “flaws with the scheduling procedures for veterans seeking care are frequent and in favor of the VA facility”. Worse, it’s been reported that some Veterans were forced to wait months for appointments that they were advised by health care providers to schedule within weeks.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
I know some folks who work in the VA and I’ve known some in the past who volunteered at the VA.
Unfortunately, a few bad apples have made the whole bunch look bad. The ones I know are extremely hard working and (compared to equal jobs in private industry) are underpaid. The volunteers that I knew (both passed on in the last 2 years) worked long hard hours with no pay.
The VA is drastically underfunded and Congress can change that.
Unfortunately, they’re all getting a bad rap due to a few problems.