Ranking Member Walz Conducts Oversight At Phoenix VA
PHOENIX, AZ – Yesterday, House Committee on Veterans Affairs Ranking Member Tim Walz (D-Minn.), conducted an oversight visit of the Phoenix Department of Veterans Affairs facility, where he met with veterans, facility leadership, frontline care givers and support staff. The Phoenix VA was subject of national headlines when in 2014 it was revealed veterans were dying while waiting for care. Whistleblowers at the facility were central in Congress and the Federal Government’s effort to expand access to timely veteran-centered care in communities across the United States.
Rep Walz received a briefing from the facility’s leaders about a recent OIG report entitled Review of Alleged Consult Mismanagement at the Phoenix VA Health Care System and steps being taken to address OIG’s concerns. The report investigated numerous allegations brought against the facility, among which include: PVAHCS Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS) staff inappropriately discontinued and canceled consults, management provided staff inappropriate direction, patients died waiting for consultative appointments, and more than 35,000 patients were waiting for consults.
Additionally, Rep. Walz received a demonstration of VA’s scheduling system by a front line scheduler as well as a demonstration of VA-DOD Electronic Health Records interoperability capabilities by a local Physician. Both the VA’s scheduling system and the interoperability of VA-DOD Electronic Health Records have been the subject of recent HVAC hearings exploring ways to modernize both systems.
Over the course of the visit, Rep. Walz heard and spoke with numerous veterans about their experiences scheduling appointments and receiving care at the facility. Their responses indicated that they were highly satisfied with the quality of care, but the appointment scheduling process had room for improvement.
“While I will always be the VA’s strongest advocate, I will also always be its fiercest critic. In 2014, when whistleblowers at the Phoenix VA revealed systemic shortcomings in basic care and services that resulted in the deaths of veterans, I was furious,” Rep Walz said. “Since then, I have worked together with my colleagues in Congress and the VA to ensure bad actors at the VA are held accountable and that access to timely veteran-centered care is expanded in communities across America.”
“My visit to the Phoenix VA facility gave me a firsthand perspective of the work being done to reverse the facility’s shortcomings and restore Arizona veterans’ faith in VA care. While there is still so much more work to be done, there are reasons to be encouraged by the progress that has been made. The fact that in just a couple years Phoenix VA grew its capacity to provide emergency room care from 80 to 150 veterans per day is proof that modernizing the VA works. I look forward to working closely with those in Congress and the VA to ensure our nation’s 22 million veterans get the quality care they deserve.”
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