Philadelphia V.A. Office Draws Withering Fire in Wake of Mismanagement Findings
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A scathing new government report points to mismanagement and data manipulation at the Veterans' Affairs office in Philadelphia that handles benefit payments, leaving veterans in the lurch and taxpayers taking a multimillion-dollar hit.
The VA inspector general found more than 31,000 veterans' questions to a call center went unanswered for an average of nearly a year. There were piles of mishandled mail. Documents containing personal information of veterans and VA staff were left in a shared kitchen area for anyone to see.
Those are just a few of the findings in the report, which comes after an investigation that started last June into allegations of mismanagement at the Philadelphia VA regional office.
"It's a failing which raises great concerns about the promises that have been made to the vets who've served our country," US Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) said about today's report.
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Most alarming, Meehan says, "There have been deliberate actions that have been taken -- not just mismanagement -- such as the altering of results of individual quality reviews by a supervisor. These are getting into very problematic areas, and this is a stunning rebuke from an administration at the facility that says it's on top of its game."
The office handles more than $4 billion in payments each year, including pension and disability claims, but the audit found the backlog of veterans' inquiries leaving customers "without answers or assistance." The audit also finds taxpayers are on the hook for more than $2 million in overpayments of duplicate claims.
The report recommends the VA itself should determine who's responsible and how they should be disciplined, but Meehan says he doesn't have the confidence they're competent to do so.
Later this afternoon, a VA spokesman issued a written statement saying that the inspector general's report reflects conditions as they were more than a year ago, and the investigation began three weeks prior to the arrival of the current director.
With new leadership in place, the statement says, the Philadelphia regional office immediately began remedying issues, most of which have already been addressed.
Along with Meehan, US Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) earlier this month logged another visit to the site under scrutiny. "Enough is enough," Costello says in a statement. "It's time for a complete culture change — starting with firing those responsible for the dysfunctional daily operations that has grossly failed our veterans."
US Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) calls for "full-scale reform" at the office, and promises veterans a legislative fix. "In the coming weeks," he says in a statement, "I will be moving forward with bipartisan legislation that will reform the disability claims process so that veterans and their families in Southeastern Pennsylvania and across the nation receive the benefits they have earned."