[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 7, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2774-S2775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I spoke yesterday on the Senate floor about 
my concerns with the nature of the way the Department of Veterans 
Affairs is being operated. Much of my concern occurred as a result of 
conversations I have had with veterans back home in Kansas and their 
experiences both on the benefit and medical side--some real concerns 
with individual examples of what has happened in some of our VA 
facilities in our State, and this growing sense that the Department of 
Veterans Affairs has become unable, unwilling, to provide the necessary 
services in a cost-effective, efficient, timely manner that our 
veterans so deserve.
  As I indicated yesterday, there is no group of people I hold in 
higher regard than those who have served our country and believe that 
the benefits that were promised our veterans must be provided to them, 
and I am concerned that is no longer the case.
  I also indicated yesterday that I have served on the House and Senate 
Veterans' Affairs Committee for now 18 years. I was the chairman of the 
health care subcommittee. I have worked with nine secretaries of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs. During that time I always had the 
sense, until the last few years, that things were always getting better 
for our veterans. Today, the frustration that I bring to share with my 
colleagues is the belief that many veterans no longer have hope that 
the

[[Page S2775]]

Department of Veterans Affairs is there to meet their needs and to care 
for them.
  In preparing for those remarks yesterday--but really in studying this 
issue over the last several years--there is a real shocking 
development, which is the number of times we hear stories, incidents, 
facts about what is going on with our veterans at the Department of 
Veterans Affairs and the services being provided. Just to highlight to 
my colleagues, based upon inspector general reports that are then, in 
part, based upon press reports, are some things we have seen and heard 
about the Department of Veterans Affairs and their efforts to care for 
America's veterans.
  The one that is in the news at the moment--there is an additional IG 
report that is being anticipated--the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Hospital 
administration apparently developed a secret waiting list of up to 
1,600 sick veterans who were forced to wait months to see a doctor. It 
is believed that at least 40 U.S. veterans died waiting for their 
appointment as a result of being placed on the secret waiting list. 
Again, this is being investigated, a report is expected, and we will 
see what that report says. But, clearly, this is one of huge concern, 
resulting in potentially the death of veterans.
  There is a wait time cover-up. According to the GAO--the Government 
Accountability Office--last year, quoting them:

       It's unclear how long an appointment has been delayed 
     because no one can really give you accurate information . . . 
     It is so bad that [GAO staff] have found evidence that VA 
     hospitals tried to cover up wait times, fudged numbers, and 
     backdated delayed appointments in an effort to make things 
     appear better than they are. In addition, the GAO states that 
     ``nothing has been implemented that we know of at this 
     point'' despite the fact that the GAO and the VA Inspector 
     General ``reported similar findings for over a decade.''

  Reports of falsifying records were stored in the VA clinic at Fort 
Collins, CO, where the VA's Office of Medical Inspector found that 
``clerks were instructed on how to falsify appointment records so it 
appeared the small staff of doctors was seeing patients within the 
agency's goal of 14 days.'' In fact, the investigation determined that 
clerical staff at the Colorado clinic were punished if they allowed 
records to reflect that a veteran waited longer than 14 days. Let me 
say that again. In fact, the investigators determined that clinical 
staff at the Colorado clinic were punished if they allowed records to 
reflect that a veteran waited longer than 14 days.
  No oversight in quality of care. In December, the GAO reported on VA 
hospitals finding that patients were not being protected from doctors 
who have historically provided substandard treatment. None of the 
hospitals examined by the GAO in Dallas, Nashville, Seattle, and 
Augusta, ME, adhered to all of the requirements to review and 
adequately identify providers who are able to deliver safe, quality 
patient care.
  In Los Angeles in 2012, more than 40,000 requests for diagnoses were 
``administratively closed'' and essentially purged from the books so 
reported wait times would be dropped. In Dallas in 2012 another 13,000 
appointments were canceled. According to the Washington Examiner, the 
VA canceled more than 1.5 million medical orders with no guarantee that 
the patients actually received the treatment or that the tests that 
were required by those orders were given.
  By the VA's own admission in an April of 2014 fact sheet, cancer 
screening delays accounted for the deaths of at least 23 patients in VA 
facilities nationwide, and another 53 patients suffered from some type 
of harm due to improper care. Reports have also linked poor patient 
care, maintenance issues, and unsanitary practices to at least six 
preventable deaths in Columbia, SC, five in Pittsburgh, four in 
Atlanta, and three each in Memphis and Augusta, GA.

  Other reports:
  More than 1,800 veteran patients in the St. Louis VA Medical Center 
may have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis as a result of unsanitary 
dental equipment. The facility has remained under fire for patient 
deaths, persistent patient safety issues, and critical reports. Despite 
the problems at the medical center, the facilities director from 2000 
to 2013 received nearly $25,000 in bonuses during her tenure there.
  CNN reported that after they obtained VA internal documents that deal 
with patients diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and 2011, at least 19 
veterans died because of delays in simple medical screenings such as 
colonoscopies or endoscopies at various VA hospitals or clinics. Let me 
say that again. In 2010 and 2011, 19 veterans died because of delays in 
getting simple medical screenings related to cancer. The veterans were 
part of 82 vets who have died or are dying or have suffered serious 
injuries as a result of delayed diagnosis or treatment.
  Loopholes in VA performance. An Iraq and Afghanistan combat vet, who 
is also a former mental health administrator at the VA Medical Center 
in Manchester, NH, said in April 2012 that VA hospital managers across 
the country regularly sought loopholes to get around meeting 
performance requirements. He explained that ``meeting a performance 
target, rather than meeting the needs of the veteran, becomes the 
overriding priority in providing care.'' He went on to say that 
``offering bonuses to managers to make sure they met performance 
requirements creates a perverse administrative incentive to find and 
exploit loopholes . . . that will allow the facility to meet its 
numbers without actually providing the services or meeting the 
expectation the measure dictates.''
  Finally, this one. It is not from the inspector general's report. But 
in a hearing before the House Veterans' Affairs Committee on April 9--
about a month ago--the deputy for the VA inspector general for health 
care inspections stated:

       I believe that the VA has lost its focus on the importance 
     of providing quality medical care as its primary mission. . . 
     . There is no good explanation for these events. They are not 
     consistent with good medical practice, they're not consistent 
     with common sense and they're not consistent with VA policies 
     that exist.

  It is amazing to me--it is so troubling to me--we have these reports 
over a long period of time across the country--not isolated incidents. 
It is even more troubling to me--despite these reports, these 
inspections, these criticisms of the VA--it is hard to find any 
evidence the VA is doing anything to improve its record, its 
performance, or to better care for the veterans of our country. We 
should demand more, and we need leadership at the Department of 
Veterans Affairs that will do so.
  As I indicated yesterday, I do not believe this is a matter of money. 
There has been a 60-percent increase in VA spending since 2009--normal 
increases of 2, 3, or 4 percent each year over the last several years. 
As I indicated yesterday, the President himself talked about how 
successful the administration has been in providing the necessary 
resources for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  Our veterans deserve better care and treatment. These are the folks 
we ought to honor and esteem. These are the people who we must live up 
to with our commitments to provide the benefits and health care they 
deserve and have earned.
  If these were isolated instances, they would be a terrible thing. But 
because they are so pervasive, because they are so widespread, and 
because there appears to be no effort to correct the problems, it is 
important--it is critical--that Congress and the American people demand 
better service, care, and treatment for our Nation's heroes.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRANKEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. FRANKEN. Mr. President, I wish to speak today as in morning 
business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is currently in morning business.

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