Congressman Tim Huelskamp

Representing the 1st District of Kansas

Internal investigation finds Leavenworth VA medical center used unauthorized wait lists

Dec 23, 2015
In The News

An inspector general’s report found an eye care clinic at Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center in Leavenworth used unauthorized wait lists, but inspectors couldn’t substantiate claims the lists were used to falsify wait times for veterans.

The Veterans Affairs Inspector General’s Office investigated claims of falsified wait lists following a complaint Sept. 18, 2014. Federal inspectors visited VA medical centers in Topeka and Leavenworth three times in late 2014 and released their report Tuesday.

At the time of the complaint in September 2014, the wait time for cataract surgery was six months. By Nov. 19, 2014, when inspectors arrived, eye clinic staff had been told to reduce the wait time to 90 days, which they did by sending veterans to non-VA clinics.

In Leavenworth, inspectors found eye clinic scheduling staff used wait lists that hadn’t been approved by the VA, raising concerns about transparency. Furthermore, staff members at Leavenworth weren’t trained to use the VA-approved electronic wait lists.

Wait lists at VA medical centers across the country have been placed under a microscope following reports last year of veterans dying while awaiting care at a VA center in Phoenix. The ensuing outrage ended in the resignation of VA secretary Eric Shinseki.

The Veterans Health Administration, a component of the VA, doesn’t track wait times for cataract surgery. As a result, inspectors concluded the Leavenworth facility didn’t use unapproved lists to distort its wait times, as a complaint had claimed.

Phone calls to the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System weren’t answered Tuesday. In a written response to the inspector general’s report, VA Heartland Network director William Patterson said the list of cataract surgery patients was a checklist, not a wait list.

Rudy Klopfer, director of the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System, said the checklist was used by his staff because the VHA didn’t provide a comparable tracking mechanism for cataract surgeries.

“Please note this was not a wait list,” he wrote.

The inspector general’s report recommended Klopfer instruct his staff to use only approved wait lists for scheduling cataract surgeries. Though he maintained eye clinic staff used a checklist, not a wait list, Klopfer concurred with the recommendation and said his staff has implemented the change.

Some issues at the eye care clinics can be traced to a lack of leadership, investigators found. Several employees had asked to be relocated because of conflicts and several employees who worked alongside each other hadn’t spoken in years. The position of director over the two clinics had been vacant since 2009.

“Several staff we interviewed were unable to name their direct supervisor and were unclear regarding the chain of command,” the report found.

Though investigators criticized the local VA centers for “less than expected” productivity from their ophthalmologists, they largely dismissed the most serious allegations.

For example, a complainant told inspectors the clinics were performing unnecessary cataract surgeries. The inspectors “found no concerns about the quality or appropriateness of cataract surgeries,” according to the report.

A complainant also alleged patients were harmed by the lengthy wait time for surgeries. Because the surgeries were by choice, and not emergencies, inspectors found the allegation was unsubstantiated.

U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, who represents Leavenworth and Topeka in Congress, said her staff had received numerous complaints about wait times for eye care at the two VA medical centers.

“While recent progress appears to be occurring within our local VA’s culture, it is very disturbing to see that these problems continue to occur and are affecting our VAMCs back home,” Jenkins said.

In a statement Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp placed the blame on President Barack Obama.

“The ongoing use of secret, unauthorized waiting lists, more than a year after top VA leadership promised otherwise, further prove the lack of accountability and leadership failures in Obama’s VA system,” Huelskamp said.

Huelskamp, who is a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said the report is evidence of leadership problems within the VA.

“I will continue to demand the VA hold accountable those responsible,” he said. “Manipulating data to give the appearance of productivity is unacceptable, and I'm committed to ending the leadership crisis in Obama’s VA.”

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