Report: VA ‘Fudging the Numbers’ About LA Hospital Wait Times

CNN Senior Investigative Correspondent Drew Griffin reported that administrators in a VA facility in Los Angeles are “fudging the numbers, hiding real wait times” on Friday’s broadcast of “The Lead.”

“Sources tell us a coverup of numbers is still going on at the largest of the VA’s medical centers, that massive health center out in Los Angeles. Sources say administrators are fudging the numbers, hiding real wait times, and that in fact, even mental health patients, which is very troubling, are waiting months to get an appointment. That’s according to multiple administrative and medical sources, and the VA’s own documentation from inside that hospital, Jake” he stated.

Griffin continued that “a high-ranking VA official testified specifically about wait times in Los Angeles…our investigation shows what this woman told Congress simply wasn’t true. It happened at a hearing last month. The Los Angeles VA official, Dr. Skye McDougall, told members of Congress wait times for new patients at the VA centers in Los Angeles were about four days. They’re actually ten times that, according to our sources and to documentation we’ve uncovered. It outraged the medical and administrative staff within the LA medical centers. That’s when those sources came forward to us, showing examples and actual documents refuting what she said.”

Griffin concluded that the VA is “sticking by the math that was provided by the LA official that brought it to Congress. But when you read the numbers, when you look at how they explain their math, it just doesn’t make sense. It gives them wiggle room, it helps them to fudge the numbers…the fact of the matter is, veterans are not getting seen in a timely fashion right now at that LA VA center.”

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