A “smoking gun” has surfaced in the scandal currently rocking the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In an email obtained by CBS News, a worker at the VA Medical Center in Cheyenne, Wyo., instructs others on how to game the scheduling system so as not to upset the front office.
BREAKING: CBS News obtains email showing VA worker instructed staff to game schedule to make vets' waits seem shorter pic.twitter.com/0Xx8hVB2wy
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 9, 2014
The email, written by Telehealth Coordinator David Newman, a registered nurse, describes how patients at the Cheyenne VA Medical Center are always listed getting appointments within a 14-day window, no matter when the appointment was first requested, and no matter how long the patient actually waited.
The memo admitted, “Yes, this is gaming the system a bit…” because “when we exceed the 14 day measure, the front office gets very upset, which doesn’t help us.”
The employee further instructs staff on how to “get off the bad boys list” by “cancelling the visit (by clinic) and then rescheduling it with a desired date within that 14 day window.”
Just yesterday, Congress issued a subpoena to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki seeking emails and documents related to delays of medical care for veterans at a Phoenix, Ariz., VA hospital. One retired doctor has alleged that as many as 40 veterans may have died while waiting for treatment.
https://twitter.com/nadabakos/status/464885317300801536
Today on CNN, Sen. John McCain said that if the scandal “is what it appears to be, this isn’t just resignations, this is violations of the law, people should go to jail.”
.@SenJohnMcCain: If VA hospitals cooked books on wait times, people should go to jail. #TheLead http://t.co/AuojDsnV8o
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 9, 2014
Gaming the system at the expense of veterans’ health and even lives?
@CBSEveningNews Wow…… that's just wrong on every level.
— Sheryl Lee Cuevas (@CentsAbleShopn) May 9, 2014
@CBSEveningNews @ConcernedVets This is unconscionable and irresponsible! Someone should be fired for this!
— Victor Warden (@lightning7876) May 9, 2014
@CBSEveningNews @PaulRieckhoff game over –Shinseki must go –aloha
— chillin dawg (@1chillindawg) May 9, 2014
@CBSEveningNews not surprise at what is happening here at the @DeptVetAffairs, this act is criminal, #veterans died because of numbers
— leslie perl wohlfeld (@combatyid) May 9, 2014
https://twitter.com/Kods1983/status/464879826089033728
@CBSEveningNews @BrianFaughnan The code of conduct always comes from the Top.
— JLaw (@yoopermomma) May 9, 2014
https://twitter.com/DanGustafson1/status/464881446055071744
@CBSEveningNews @seanagnew And how many men who fought for this country died because of their "gaming the system"?
— Cora van Zyl (@coravanzyl) May 9, 2014
Fellow veterans,
The next time the enemy is firing at you, just "game the system" and ask them to shoot 14 days from now.@CBSEveningNews— KerryL 'Shadow Banned' ❌?? (@kerrloud) May 9, 2014
https://twitter.com/maximus_onyx/status/464882945543532545
https://twitter.com/seanagnew/status/464883106487730177
Join the conversation as a VIP Member