Congressional Field Hearing Held To Discuss Philadelphia VA Office
By Cleve Bryan
PEMBERTON, N.J., (CBS) -- A Congressional field hearing at Burlington County College revealed frustrations with implementing changes at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Regional Office which is accused of gross mismanagement.
This June the VA's Office of the Inspector General began investing more than 100 complaints of potential wrongdoing at the office, including "cooking the books" to hide a backlog of claims and creating a hostile work environment for employees to report problems.
"I just feel bad, it's not fair to (veterans). They sacrifice their life for us and I think they deserve more than a quick look at their claim," says Kristen Ruell, a Philly VARO employee who testified as a whistleblower before the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.
Ruell confirmed allegations that employees and supervisors routinely cherry pick easy to complete veteran's claims and avoid time-consuming ones to meet performance metrics.
In essence if a person has a problem that isn't easy to fix they get ignored so that staff can earn performance points and get promotions or at least preserve their jobs.
"I think the point system is the root of all evil at the VA," says Ruell whose reviewed accuracy of claims for 7 years.
The Philly VARO staff is also accused of purposefully time stamping lost or ignored claims with new dates so they don't look so old.
Ruell says since allegations came to light in June there doesn't seem to be any real change in the practices and work environment at the Philly VARO.
Congressman Jon Runyan (R-New Jersey) oversaw the field hearing and says the entire VA system needs to work hard at restoring the trust of veterans.
"They're going to have to change the way they do business," says Runyan, "it's cost veterans lives whether they want to admit it or not and it's unfortunate we're in this situation."
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