Congressman John Carter (R-TX31) called for action today with Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX21) and members of the Texas delegation by requesting an Inspector General investigation into the  allegations that the VA offices in Central Texas manipulated medical appointment data in order to conceal long wait times for veterans seeking care.

“If VA employees are manipulating patient data then it is due to an accountability and leadership problem – not funding,” said Congressman John Carter, former member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs. “Congress has consistently increased funding to the VA so that we can support the commitments we made to our veterans when we asked them to fight for our freedom. These funds should be going to providing the best to our veterans, not supporting a bloated bureaucratic system. There needs to be accountability and oversight. The culture in the VA needs to be a culture that puts Veterans first.”

The letter to the VA Inspector General was sent in reaction to a whistleblower reporting to local media that employees at the North Central Federal Clinic in San Antonio, the Austin Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic and the Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center were instructed by supervisors to ensure that wait times for veterans were as short as possible. These instructions allegedly led to VA staff manipulating patient’s desired appointment dates to coincide with appointment openings.

A copy of the letter can be found here.