Federal report: Salisbury VA Medical Center employees manipulated wait time data
An investigative summary released by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office says employees at the Salisbury VA Medical Center manipulated appointments to make it appear as though veterans’ wait timers were within 14 days.
The report from the agency’s Inspector General Office was released on Tuesday but detailed an investigation conducted by the Inspector General’s Office of Investigations between May 2014 and March 2015.
The report said investigators concluded “over half of the schedulers who were interviewed were routinely ‘fixing’ patient appointments at the request of their supervisors, so scheduled appointments would appear to fall within 14 days of a veteran’s desired date.”
Investigators said some employees were evaluated based, in part, on the number of appointments that were scheduled within 14 days of a veteran’s desired date.
The amount of appointments scheduled within 14 days of a patient’s desired date was also included in a list of evaluation criteria for the Salisbury center director, the report said.
According to the investigative summary, investigators reviewed appointment records and interviewed a number of staff members and supervisors.
Management at the Salisbury center told investigators they were unaware of the practice of “fixing” appointments to fall within a 14-day range.
But appointment data reviewed by investigators raised questions.
“VA OIG reviewed a report of all appointments scheduled by facility staff on May 15-16, 2014. Review of the report revealed that more than 7,500 appointments were made over the 2-day time period, and an abnormally large number of the appointments were made with a wait time of zero days, even appointments that were made several months into the future,” the summary said.
And multiple employees interviewed by investigators said they were instructed by their supervisors to manipulate appointments.
One employee in the Women’s Health Clinic said a supervisor threatened to revoke her access to the scheduling system because of her refusal to not “fluff the numbers” and said it was documented on her performance review that she was “not a team player” because she regularly scheduled appointments outside of the 14-day window when a closer appointment was not available.
That same employee also told investigators about a secret list of patients who had not had appointments scheduled for them; some patients, the summary said, waited more than 500 days for an appointment.
The administrative summary report does not include a response from the administrators at the Salisbury center.
An email seeking comment from the medical center sent late Tuesday night was not immediately returned.
This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 6:59 AM with the headline "Federal report: Salisbury VA Medical Center employees manipulated wait time data."