Damaging VA Crisis Line Report Confirms Need For New Law, Says Iowa Congressman

Statement

The author of a federal law enacted in late 2016 to address the numerous failures of the VA's Veterans Crisis Line is reacting to today's release of a report by the agencies' Office of Inspector General detailing the many problems with the hotline.

Iowa Congressman David Young, who authored the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act, a bill signed into law on November 28, 2016, noted he was not surprised at the depth of the problems with the crisis line detailed in the official report.

"Unfortunately, today's report confirms the many horror stories I heard from Iowa veterans of how this lifeline failed them when they reached out for help," said Congressman Young. "This report details unacceptable standards and numerous failures and are exactly the reason I wrote and introduced the bipartisan legislation to fix the plagued Veterans Crisis Line. I have faith that Secretary Shulkin will implement the mandates of this new law and the recommendations of the Inspector General to clean up this national embarrassment so America's veterans can get the quality assistance they have earned regardless of when they request it."

According to VA Office of Inspector General's Evaluation of the Veterans Health Administration Veterans Crisis Line report released Monday afternoon, investigators found the Crisis Line staff did not respond adequately to veteran's urgent needs and further identified weaknesses from inadequate quality assurance processes and operational capacities in place, including not meeting previous recommendations the OIG made in February 2016.

The VA evaluation primarily covered the period, June 6, 2016 to December 15, 2016, prior to the enactment of the legislation written by Congressman Young on November 28, 2016.

While the law requires a plan to be submitted to the House and Senate Committees on Veterans' Affairs within 180 days of enactment, Young believes the Trump Administration is already taking steps to remedy the situation based on his meetings with the VA transition team regarding the law and the input they solicited from Young's office on the best ways to move forward on fixing the flaws with the Crisis Line.

In addition to Congressman Young's monitoring of the implementation of the requirements of the law, he is planning on visiting the two Crisis Line call centers this spring to personally assess the progress of the needed improvements.

Source