Letter: No firings at VA in Little Rock?

Congressman wants answers about 2 in data skewing, lies

The chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs wants to know why Veterans Affairs employees in Little Rock weren't fired for manipulating patient data and lying to federal investigators.

In a Wednesday letter obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., asked Mark Morgan, interim medical center director at Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, a series of questions about the status of two employees implicated in a March 15 report by the VA office of inspector general.

The letter requested a response by last Friday, but Miller had not received a response on Monday.

Much of the information Miller requested, like the job titles and salaries of the two employees, was requested by the Democrat-Gazette under the Freedom of Information Act on March 17, but those requests too had not been fulfilled on Monday.

"Because the Department of Veterans Affairs is a taxpayer-funded organization, it has a responsibility to fully explain itself to the press and the public," Miller said through a spokesman on Monday. "Unfortunately, in many cases the department is failing to live up to that responsibility. In this situation, it appears VA has resorted to stonewalling Congress, the press and the public in an effort to hide its lack of accountability for a number of employees connected to the department's wait-time scandal."

A VA spokesman in Little Rock said the letter had been received, and directed questions to the office of government relations in Washington, D.C.

Glenn Johnson, director of veterans health legislative affairs service at the VA's office of government relations, said oversight requests like Miller's take time to process before they're cleared for release to Congress.

The VA watchdog's report, which stemmed from a whistleblower complaint, detailed how Little Rock VA employees systematically altered the dates patients requested doctor appointments to give the impression of shorter wait times.

The inspector general report also substantiated a claim that employees short-circuited the process for scheduling appointments for new enrollees. Instead of following VA policy of three phone calls and a certified letter to try to schedule an appointment, some employees were instructed to only call once to "hurry up and get through and move on to the next one."

Additionally, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said two Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System supervisors lied under oath to investigators from the VA office of inspector general.

VA hospital leadership in Little Rock recommended removal for Anthony Hatchett and a 30-day suspension for Jacquelyn Riggins, according to a letter from Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner to President Barack Obama dated Dec. 10.

On March 17, however, a Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System spokesman said no one had been fired for their role in wait-time manipulation. When asked how the pair was disciplined, the spokesman declined to comment, citing privacy concerns.

"If the original proposed disciplinary actions were mitigated down to lesser punishments, how and why was it determined that lying to a federal investigator was not grounds for removal or other serious adverse actions?" Miller asked in the letter.

The letter also questioned why Riggins and Hatchett have not been included on any disciplinary reports the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs receives weekly.

Riggins declined comment when reached by phone on Monday; a phone number listed for Hatchett was disconnected.

In an email chain provided to federal investigators by the whistleblower, Daniel Wheeler, which was obtained by the newspaper, Riggins scolded him for correctly scheduling appointments. If he did not continue manipulating the appointment dates, she said, he would appear on "the list."

"What happened???" Riggins wrote. "Did you decide to make up your own way of scheduling or what??"

The whistleblower stated that he continued following Riggins instructions to improperly input scheduling data until wait-time manipulation reports surfaced in the media in 2014, which is when he reported the malpractice to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

Hatchett denied any knowledge of wait-time manipulation when interviewed by investigators, but the inspector general determined he displayed a "lack of candor" after a review of emails and testimony.

Congress has long struggled to receive the level of transparency it desires from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. As of March 28, the VA had not responded to 224 oversight request from the House Committee on Veterans affairs -- some dating back to December 2012.

"The job titles, duty status and pay grades of VA employees are not protected information in any way," Miller said. "The fact that VA is even attempting to hide this information from the public signifies that the arrogance, sense of entitlement and lack of transparency that led to the VA scandal still permeates certain corners of the department. VA exists to serve veterans and taxpayers, not protect misbehaving bureaucrats. We will maintain pressure on the department until VA leaders in Arkansas and across the country learn this valuable lesson."

The VA Accountability Act, which passed the House in July and is pending in the U.S. Senate, would give the secretary of veterans affairs the ability quickly fire or demote VA employees due to poor performance or misconduct. The legislation, which is co-sponsored by Rep. French Hill, R-Little Rock, would also limit the VA's ability to place employees on paid leave.

"I also echo the comments of the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, that this situation points to a larger problem at VA of a lack of accountability and tactics of obfuscation in order to protect poorly performing employees," Hill said in a statement released by his office Monday night. "VA leadership must begin using all tools at their disposal to weed those from the system that willfully endanger our veterans."

Metro on 04/05/2016

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