Washington, DC– Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released the results of an internal access audit of staffers at VA facilities in the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN). According to the audit, 57.1 percent of staff surveyed at the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System (CAVHCS) reported they were instructed by facility management to manipulate records as opposed to the staff response given to 8.6 percent of staff at the Birmingham VA and 16.7 percent of staff at the Tuscaloosa VA.   In addition, House and Senate leaders announced compromise legislation on VA reform that will be voted on Thursday. Congresswoman Sewell released the following statement in response to the internal audit and compromise legislation:

“Today’s findings represent the continuance of woefully unacceptable practices by CAVHCS. It is simply egregious that staff received instruction from superiors to manipulate records,” said Rep. Sewell. “Earlier today I spoke with Mr. Charles Sepich, the VA’s Southeast Network Director, to express my deep concerns with the results of this audit and to better understand the plans being implemented to address the institutional and administrative failures within the Montgomery and Tuskegee VA.  It is time to stop the finger pointing and focus on solving this emergency.  Our veterans deserve immediate solutions to the issues at CAVHCS and I will accept nothing less.”

“I firmly believe that no Veteran who has put his or her life at risk for the security of our nation should be denied timely and quality care by the VA. We have a duty to ensure that our nation’s VA system works for our nation’s veterans,” said Rep. Sewell. “I am carefully reviewing the compromise legislation to ensure that it addresses the immediate need to improve access to quality care for our veterans. Further, my office will continue to demand accountability and improvements that need to be made immediately at CAVHCS.”

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For more information about the proposed legislation, please visit: http://veterans.house.gov/the-veterans-access-choice-and-accountability-act-of-2014-highlights#overlay-context=content/the-veterans-access-choice-and-accountability-act-of-2014-highlights