Scott Statement on the V.A. Inspector General's Interim Report on Patient Wait Times
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott issued the following statement in reaction to the interim reported released Wednesday by the Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs:
"At this time, I am not calling on the Secretary to resign. The Inspector General's interim report conspicuously does not recommend personnel changes at this time. Further, I believe a power vacuum at the top of the V.A. may further exacerbate the current problem, because there is no telling how long it will take the President to nominate and the Senate to confirm a replacement who will then take months to familiarize him or herself with V.A. leadership. The scheduling problems must be immediately fixed, the delays must be accurately reported, and those veterans at the greatest health risk because of the delays must receive the appropriate medical care immediately, as recommended in the IG's interim report. However, simply accurately reporting the delays won't fix the delays – the only way to truly reduce the backlog is to ensure more doctors and specialists are available to care for our veterans. And so I recommend Congress immediately provide the V.A. additional resources to specifically hire more doctors and specialists. This may not be the only solution, but it will certainly be part of the solution."
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