MINNEAPOLIS - The Minneapolis VA Medical Center is apparently trying to tackle a backlog of patient scheduling needs that could potentially jeopardize the health of veterans, according to emails obtained by KARE 11 News.
The internal emails show the Minneapolis VA is calling people in on weekend overtime to clean up a massive backlog of patient appointments that appear to have been improperly cancelled.
The revelation comes in the wake of a KARE 11 News investigation into allegations made by two former Veterans Administration employees who say VA supervisors pressured them to falsify medical records by saying patients had refused treatment even though they hadn't been contacted. Both former employees have filed an official whistleblower complaint against the VA with Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Late Thursday, Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) sent a letter to the acting inspector general, Richard Griffin, asking for verification that these allegations are being fully investigated.
"As I made clear in a previous communication with the VA leadership and the OIG," Walz wrote. "We must thoroughly investigate all allegations of wrongdoing at VA and punish to the full extent of the law those found responsible."
Walz says he also plans to follow up with the Office of Special Counsel on the "allegations of retaliation against the two whistleblowers in the (KARE) story." Both former workers who alleged the scheduling fraud have been fired.
Meanwhile, a veteran who asked to review his own medical records in the wake of the KARE 11 investigation says his case documents show how the local VA gastroenterology department improperly cancelled his colonoscopy without contacting him.
"They lied!" says Ernest Jones, a Vietnam era veteran. "The people that did that lied."
Jones' medical records show his doctor ordered a colonoscopy for him after an emergency room visit. The records say Jones was supposed to get a letter explaining the importance of the exam and giving him a number to call and schedule the procedure.
It's a letter Jones says he never received.
That's not surprising, according to two former VA employees who helped schedule colonoscopies.
"Some patients don't even get the letter that is supposed to be going out," said Letty Alonso.
Letty Alonso and Heather Rossbach, another former VA scheduler, recently filed a complaint with the OIG hotline, claiming that while working at the Minneapolis VA, they were ordered to falsify patient records, like Ernie's, to make it appear the GI clinic was meeting its performance goals.
"It's all about making the numbers look good regardless if it's damaging people, Alonso said.
"You lied on documents?" asked KARE 11 reporter A.J. Lagoe.
"Yes I did," Alonso replied.
Not only would letters not be sent, the women claim they were ordered to lie by putting into the computer system that veterans had been notified they needed medical care when they had never been contacted,.
"They should be getting treatment obviously?" asked Lagoe.
"Yes, but not knowing how can they?" said Alonso.
Alonso says she slowly began to realize the extent of the problem after Jones, an old friend, stopped by to congratulate her on her new job in the GI department and Jones asked about his colonoscopy.
"I said, you know I was due for one, but I never got a call."
He says a check of VISTA, the VA'S computer system, revealed that his colonoscopy had been cancelled.
"I just really was blindsided by it," said Jones.
KARE 11 reviewed a copy of the medical records Jones obtained. They reveal that three months after a letter was supposedly sent, his colonoscopy was cancelled because he had not responded.
"We're supposed to call them," said Rossbach.
VA Guidelines state "you must call the patient" to insure "the patient knows about the appointment."
Emails show Letty tried with Ernie's help, to get the situation fixed internally.
"Oh yeah," explained Jones. "I moved almost heaven and earth. I even sent an email to the chief of staff."
That email was directed to VA Patient Advocate Michael Rosecrans and chief of staff, Dr. Kent Crossley. Jones thanks both men for, "listening to Ms. Alonso's issues" including "consults are delayed and remain undone" that could involve "life threatening issues."
A week later Jones sent another email to Rosecrans saying, "One of the patients was noted as having cancer symptoms. You sure as hell better hurry and do something or have some (thing) done, ASAP."
The delays they were concerned about are very similar to what in April, the VA found contributed to 23 deaths at a dozen other VA facilities nationwide.
Jones wrote an email to Alonso saying, "We did the right thing," telling her if "those problems were not reported to leadership you could have gone to jail."
"I felt confident that everyone was going to come forward and say, 'oh my God, this really going on. Let's fix it.'" Jones said in an interview.
But, instead, the VA fired Alonso and Rossbach.
"We spoke up," said Alonso, "and as you can see we're no longer there."
The women claim they were fired for trumped up charges.
Minneapolis VA Director Patrick Kelly said he cannot discuss the details of personnel cases.
But a letter from the Minnesota Department of Employment says it reviewed Alonso's case and found "no evidence" to support the VA's claim she did something wrong.
Meanwhile, VA sources tell KARE 11 there's a massive effort now underway to try to quietly go back and identify veterans like Jones, who may have had had their medical appointments improperly cancelled, and begin to reschedule them.
Sources say they've identified more than 300 cases so far.
Internal VA emails from July and August show a supervisor was asking for volunteers to work overtime to help out with "GI consult scheduling" to make sure patients are "contacted and scheduled."
The catch-up is still underway. An email sent last week shows the VA was trying to get seven people to work overtime this coming Saturday, Sept. 6, "scheduling for GI."
In an interview, Jones said, "I guess I shouldn't ask you because you're not the VA, but what's going to happen with this. Is anybody going to do anything?"
