VA secretary visits with staff in Philly

The secretary of the embattled Department of Veterans Affairs came to Philadelphia on Friday, touring VA facilities, chatting with employees, and taking a closed-door meeting with members of Congress.

Secretary Robert McDonald took only a few questions and said his visit was a routine stop, pegged to the 100th anniversary of the agency's life insurance program. But it also follows months of scrutiny of the city's VA system, capped last week when local administrators came under fire for a training manual that appeared to depict their clients as Oscar the Grouch.

McDonald on Friday again apologized for the training guide and stressed improving the culture of the agency. But he declined to share specifics about the ongoing investigation into scheduling practices at the city's VA hospital or to say whether it could lead to firings.

"We obviously take data manipulation, lack of integrity, dishonesty very seriously," he said to media members gathered in an auditorium of the VA Medical Center in University City. "We will not tolerate lying, cheating, stealing, or those people who do it. So we will take the appropriate action, consistent with the law."

The visit, his first to Pennsylvania since his appointment in late July and one of several made in recent weeks to VA centers around the country, comes as the city's veterans hospital and its benefits office in Germantown are being reviewed by the VA Office of Inspector General for allegedly falsifying data to mask delays.

At the hospital and the VA clinic it runs in Horsham, which between them serve more than 65,000 veterans from Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey, scheduling staffers have said they were told to manipulate appointment dates, in some cases in an effort to "game" the system, according to a VA audit.

It's unclear whether those findings have put the sites among the 93 at which the VA inspector general has launched criminal investigations in coordination with the FBI and the Department of Justice.

McDonald, a former chief executive at Procter & Gamble, said Friday he had not been kept informed about details of those reviews. He deferred questions about whether staff could face discipline for encouraging data manipulation to the hospital's director, Daniel Hendee. Hendee's spokeswoman said the office was waiting for the inspector general's review before considering any action.

The spokeswoman, Jennifer Askey, has denied staffers tried to hide delays, attributing any concerns to poor bookkeeping.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan (R., Pa.), who has accused Hendee of lying to him about data falsification at the facility, said that when meeting Friday with McDonald, he stressed the need for honest communication.

Last month, Meehan asked the secretary to investigate whether Hendee lied to him. On Friday, though, he echoed McDonald's sentiments, saying he would resist drawing conclusions until he reads the inspector general's findings.

"I think we're going to wait for the IG," Meehan said. "I want to see what the IG says. I want to be fair."

McDonald said he also met at the hospital with U.S. Reps. Jon Runyan (R., N.J.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Bob Brady (D., Pa.), and Frank LoBiondo (R., N.J.)

Earlier in the day, he visited the city's benefits office - which processes claims for 825,000 veterans in Southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and Delaware and which also houses one of the nation's three VA pension-management centers - to mark the anniversary of the VA's life insurance program, celebrated Tuesday.

The office made national headlines last week after staff there used a training guide, first reported by The Inquirer, that appeared to liken veterans to the Sesame Street character Oscar the Grouch. Diana Rubens, director of the office, said the guide was meant to liken employees, not veterans, to the trash-can-dwelling Muppet.

McDonald nonetheless issued an apology last week and ordered an agencywide review of training programs. On Friday, he again apologized for the guide, titled, "What to Say to Oscar the Grouch - Dealing with Veterans During Town Hall Claims Clinics."

"Those materials are no longer being used," he said. "And, obviously, it doesn't take anyone a moment to realize the inappropriateness of those materials."

McDonald said Friday that the hospital had made strides in shrinking the backlog and that most veterans still waiting too long for care had been seeking appointments in audiology, a specialty where the facility was lacking staff. He said that, in the last few months, the hospital had reached out to 1,600 veterans to get them off waiting lists.

610-313-8205

@TriciaNadolny