The inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs reported on Wednesday that at least 1,700 veterans at the agency’s medical center in Phoenix were not registered on the proper waiting list to see doctors, creating a serious condition that means veterans “continue to be at risk of being forgotten or lost” in the convoluted scheduling process.
All the while, the hospital falsely reported waiting times that suggested delays were minimal, the report said.
The report prompted several leading Republicans, including Senator John McCain of Arizona, to call for the secretary of veterans affairs, Eric Shinseki, to step down.
“While our work is not complete, we have substantiated that significant delays in access to care negatively impacted the quality of care at this medical facility,” Richard J. Griffin, the acting inspector general for the department, said in an interim report on his investigation into the Phoenix medical center.
Irregularities in how the ,700 veterans were handled, the report said, mean that “these veterans may never obtain a requested or required clinical appointment.” Mr. Shinkseki, who earlier this month put top administrators in Phoenix on leave, called the findings of the interim report "reprehensible” and promised to take immediate action.
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