VA problems "systemic," McCain says

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration and Congress are moving quickly to respond to a growing
political firestorm over allegations of treatment delays and falsified records at veterans hospitals
nationwide.
The top official for veterans’ health care resigned Friday, and House Republicans scheduled a vote for
Wednesday on legislation that would give Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki greater authority to
fire or demote senior executives and administrators at the agency and its 152 medical centers.
The actions came as federal investigators visited a VA hospital in suburban Chicago to look into an
allegation that secret lists were used to conceal long patient wait times for appointments. Sen. Tom
Udall, D-N.M., meanwhile, called for an investigation into reports that schedulers at a VA medical
center in Albuquerque were ordered to falsify patient appointment records.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the Veterans Affairs Department is suffering from "a systemic,
cultural problem" that cannot be solved with piecemeal responses, such as the resignation of a top
official.
"What’s needed is a total refocusing of the VA on its core mission of serving veterans — stretching
from its top political leadership all the way through to its career civil servants," McCain said
Saturday in the weekly Republican radio and Internet address.
Citing news reports that VA managers received performance bonuses even as internal audits revealed
lengthy wait times for health care, McCain said top VA officials too often have been "motivated by
all the wrong incentives and rewards."
McCain, a Vietnam veteran, said Congress must give VA administrators greater ability to hire and fire
those charged with caring for veterans, as well as give veterans greater flexibility in how they get
quality care in a timely manner.
Reports of long waits for appointments and processing benefit applications have plagued the VA for years.
Officials have shortened benefits backlogs, but allegations of preventable deaths that may be linked to
delays at the Phoenix VA hospital have triggered an election-year uproar. A former clinic director said
up to 40 veterans died while awaiting treatment at the Phoenix VA hospital, even as hospital staff kept
a secret appointment list to mask the delays.
A VA nurse in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was put on leave for allegedly telling employees to falsify appointment
records. A VA investigation in December found that staffers at a Fort Collins, Colorado, clinic were
trained to make it appear as if veterans got appointments within 14 days, as VA guidelines suggest.
Problems also have been reported in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Missouri.
Amid a growing outcry, the administration and Congress took steps to reassure the public that problems
are being addressed.
Robert Petzel, the VA’s undersecretary for health care, had been scheduled to retire this year but
instead stepped down Friday. Petzel had said he would remain until the Senate confirmed a replacement,
but a department official said Shinseki asked Petzel to leave immediately.
Republicans denounced the move as a hollow gesture. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House
Veterans’ Affairs Committee, called the announcement "the pinnacle of disingenuous political
doublespeak." Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Shinseki’s "reticence to hold fellow bureaucrats
at the VA accountable is exactly why we need new leadership that is willing to take swift action to
ensure we are living up to our promises to our nation’s heroes."
Cornyn is among a handful of Republicans who have called for Shinseki to resign. The American Legion, one
of the nation’s largest veterans groups, also has called for Shinseki to resign and called Petzel’s
departure "a continuation of business as usual."
The White House said President Barack Obama supports Shinseki’s decision to remove Petzel and that Obama
is "committed to doing all we can to ensure our veterans have access to timely, quality health
care."
Petzel’s resignation came a day after he and Shinseki were grilled at a four-hour hearing of the Senate
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, where lawmakers and veteran groups expressed exasperation at
long-standing problems.
In his position, Petzel oversaw what officials say is the largest health care delivery system in the U.S.
The VA operates 1,700 hospitals, clinics and other facilities around the country, serving about 6.5
million veterans and other beneficiaries each year.
Miller, who wrote the legislation that the House will take up next week, said Congress must act, because
the VA is "apparently unwilling to take substantive actions to hold any of its leaders
accountable."
Shinseki on Thursday told senators he was "mad as hell" about allegations of severe problems
and that he was looking for quick results from a nationwide audit. He has rejected calls for him to
resign.

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