Report: VA officials exaggerating success

Jim Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs since January 26, 2005, is an attorney, real estate developer, former Ambassador to the Vatican, and a former Republican Party chairman. He testified Wednesday in Congress, saying that millions of dollars in bonuses for top VA officials were justified because they could get higher salaries in the private sector.

WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs has habitually exaggerated the record of its medical system, inflating its achievements in ways that make it appear more successful than it is, a McClatchy Newspapers study shows...

-- The agency has touted how quickly veterans get in for appointments, but its own inspector general found that scheduling records have been manipulated repeatedly.

-- The VA boasted that its customer service ratings are 10 points higher than those of private-sector hospitals, but the survey it cited shows a far smaller gap.

-- Top officials repeatedly have said that a pivotal health-quality study ranked the agency's health care "higher than any other health-care system in this country." However, the study they cited wasn't designed to do that.

Read the rest at the Fort Wayne News Sentinel

Related Link:
Report: VA claims averaging six months for response

Related Link:
Veterans Administration hands out $3.8 million in senior management bonuses

Related Link:
Testimony: Rural veterans lack VA care

Related Link:
AmVets: Washington is worst for vet claims

Related Link:
VA rejects proposed fixes for case backlog

Related Link:
Back pay late for thousands of disabled vets

Related Link:
Perspective: Harvard professor offers a solution to disability claim crisis

Related Link;
VA orders review of 1,400 hospitals and clinics

Related Link:
Perspective: For War’s Gravely Injured, Challenge to Find Care

Related Link:
Perspective: Straining to keep a promise

Related Link:
GAO: $3 billion Veterans Administration shortfall for care of Iraq vets