News Releases

Sen. Moran to Sec. Shinseki: VA Audit Is Damage Control

“This seems to me to be more damage control than solving the problem….What we need is action based on information we already have.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, today told Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki that he believes the “nationwide, face-to-face audit” of the VA system Sec. Shinseki announced last week simply damage control, and not truly a comprehensive and sincere look at the magnitude of the problems at hand.

“The idea that you can conduct ‘system-wide…review’ of the VA using 220 VA employees and visiting 153 medical facilities. Mr. Secretary, we have 1700 VA points of access to care. I don’t see a review that lasts two weeks…as capable of providing information… This seems to me to be more damage control than solving the problem… What we need is action based on information we already have.”

It was discovered this week that what was billed by Sec. Shinseki as a “nationwide review” beginning on May 8, is in fact not being conducted by the VA Inspector General or the VA Medical Inspector General. Instead, the so-called “face-to-face audit” is led by approximately 220 VA employees who are apparently visiting 153 medical facilities and a few large Community Based Outpatient Clinics. These facilities make up less than 10 percent of the 1700 Veterans Health Administration “points of care” across this country.

Sen. Moran has been a member of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees for 18 years, chaired the Health Subcommittee in the House for two years, and has worked with nine VA Secretaries. The hearing followed Sen. Moran’s call for Secretary Shinseki to resign amidst ongoing systemic dysfunction within the VA system. 

FTP LINK:  Click here to download Sen. Moran’s full opening statement at the Senate VA Committee hearing. (Save to your desktop.)

YOUTUBE:  Click here to watch his remarks on YouTube.