Employees at Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System (CAVHCS) were fired after attempting to cover up the fact that veterans were being forced to wait far too long to receive care.
CAVHCS director James Talton said that several members of the VA staff had falsified documents to keep the long wait times a secret. But about three weeks ago, several other VA employees came forward and reported the wrongdoing to the auditor. At that point he immediately alerted the VA inspector general and fired the employees responsible.
A federal audit released Monday includes Alabama among 84 VA facilities nationwide cited for unethical practices.
“The 84 facilities are separated into Groups A, B, and C, with Group A being the most seriously investigated group,” Talton explained in an email to local VA employees. “CAVHCS is listed in Group A.”
CNN recently conducted a six-month investigation into “extended delays in health care appointments suffered by veterans across the country,” some of whom “died while waiting for appointments and care.”
The investigation revealed that 40 U.S. veterans died while waiting for appointments at a VA hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. On top of that, the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, had created an elaborate scheme to hide the fact that they were not delivering timely care to their patients.
It appears that employees at the Central Alabama VA had created a similar scheme, although no evidence released to this point indicates that any Alabama veterans died due to the waits.
According to Department of Veterans Affairs data obtained by USA Today through a Freedom of Information Act request, the central Alabama system had the eighth longest average wait time of the entire VA system. Veterans had to wait an average of 51.5 days for an appointment at VA hospitals in Montgomery. The national average was 27.4.
“It is disgusting and infuriating to know that the atrocious behavior we have heard about elsewhere has been happening right here in Central Alabama,” said U.S. Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL02). “I appreciate Director Talton for taking responsibility and holding bad actors accountable since discovering the misconduct. However, this isn’t over. Anyone found to have mistreated veterans, altered wait list documents, or been complicit in such behavior should be immediately terminated and possibly prosecuted.”
The VA clinic in Mobile and the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi, which serves many Alabama veterans, were both also included in the audit released Monday.
The Mobile clinic is located in Alabama’s 1st Congressional District, which is represented by Republican Bradley Byrne. Byrne said that his office has received many complaints “from veterans across Southwest Alabama who have experienced long wait times and questionable care from the VA.”
“Our nation’s veterans deserve the best care possible, but sadly too many are being left behind,” Byrne said. “I am especially troubled that the Mobile clinic and Biloxi hospital, the leading providers in our area, are both on the list of… facilities nationwide to be selected for further review by the VA Inspector General… Ultimately the culture of complacency at the VA must change in order for veterans’ care to improve. I will continue to push for answers and results from the VA as the investigation moves forward.”
Roby and Byrne have both advocated for the development of the VA’s Patient-Centered Community Care (PCCC) program, which allows veterans to utilize non-VA health care providers to access services not offered by their local VA hospital, or when there are long wait times.
“More than anything we must find ways to fix the problems that have led to these outrageous wait times,” Roby concluded.
More Yellowhammer coverage of the VA scandal:
- Rogers ‘appalled’ that veterans are dying on VA wait lists, pushes for accountability
- Roby: Veterans dying on secret wait lists a ‘national outrage’
- Shelby pushes for Department of Justice to investigate Veterans Affairs scandal
- Byrne: Time for change at the VA
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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