Veterans Affairs official: 14-day appointment goal encouraged hidden wait lists

By Susan Ferrechio | Washington Examiner

The House Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing Wednesday night on the failures at the Phoenix VA medical center. Three VA officials testified for several hours about the problems in Phoenix, which were outlined in an inspector general’s report issued earlier Wednesday. The IG report found that nearly 3,000 veterans were waiting for care, with 1,700 not even entered on an official waiting list.

• Secret waiting lists are “misunderstood.”: Thomas Lynch, the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Clinical Operations, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said the lists were created in order to reschedule veterans whose appointments were cancelled and then lists were destroyed to protect privacy. “It was not a wait list, it was an interim work product,” Lynch, a physician, said.

at Washington Examiner.