Roudebush VA Medical Center Review A Result Of Accusations About Manipulated Wait Times

When an internal audit of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs last month marked Indianapolis’ VA hospital for further review, it didn’t give a reason for doing so.  Officials at the Roudebush VA Medical Center  now say it’s because of accusations that the hospital manipulated wait times.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is expected to brief Congressional leaders this week on the facilities it marked for further review.

Roudebush VA Medical Center spokeswoman Julie Webb says information she’s received from the VA ahead of those briefings indicate a union president accused the hospital of changing wait times. But she says surveys of the hospitals’ employees do not support that allegation.

“Ninety-five percent of our staff reports that their work is reviewed by supervisors and there have been no instances of manipulation of providers’ scheduled observed,” Webb said.

Indiana Congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-2nd) sits on the House Committee for Veterans Affairs. She says she looks forward to the additional information from the audit and says as a whole, she’s pleased with the review process.

“I still want to make sure that all our hospitals and clinics are fully functioning, doing what they told the veterans they would do, and if there are any decreases that we find, you best that I’ll be on them to make sure that those monies are allocated as well here,” Walorski said.
Officials at the Roudebush hospital say they have not been told when or if a further review will be conducted.