OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Letter to Richard Griffin, Acting Inspector General - OIG Report Concerns

Letter

Date: May 29, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Veterans Health and Health Care

The Honorable Richard J. Griffin
Acting Inspector General
Department of Veterans Affairs
801 I Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

Dear Mr. Griffin:

I am very troubled by the findings outlined in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of the Inspector General's report titled Review of Patient Wait Times, Scheduling Practices, and Alleged Patient Deaths at the Phoenix Health Care System. The report documents gross misconduct by certain Department of Veterans Affairs officials at the Phoenix VA Health Care System, including falsification of patient wait time records to conceal a significant backlog in medical appointment requests. These problems must be addressed immediately.

I know that you share my concern and frustration that VA executives charged with the care of our servicemen and women would deliberately misrepresent their performance and jeopardize the health and well-being of thousands of veterans seeking care.

I also appreciate the aggressive response from your office to date, particularly the deployment of rapid audit teams across the VA enterprise, including at the Manchester, New Hampshire and White River Junction, Vermont VA Medical Centers that serve New Hampshire's veterans. The information gathered through these evaluations will provide us with important insight into the breadth of this crisis.

Given the seriousness of these findings and its potential impact on New Hampshire veterans, I respectfully request a full briefing regarding the report's findings generally, as well as the results of the investigations at Manchester and White River Junction specifically, as soon as possible. I appreciate the demands on your time are significant; however I want to ensure that Congress is able to address any resource deficiencies immediately through this year's appropriations process.

On behalf of veterans in New Hampshire and around the country, I thank you for your continued service.

Sincerely,

Jeanne Shaheen
United States Senator


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