dr. catherine mitchell. dr. mitchell is going to tell us about the failures of people who have been entrusted with the duty to give that care. mr. kirk: we quickly realized to the corruption was rampant. a social worker and union president stood up to say the corrupt bonus schemes that brought down the phoenix v.a. was at the heinz v.a. in my home state. they also uncovered boxes of unread echocardiograms, leading her to discover dozens of unnecessary surgeries. the truth about corruption in v.a. hospitals was not easy to reveal for catherine mitchell. they have been through hell to give mistreated veterans a voice. because the system is built to protect whistleblowers and fight corruption has failed them. the v.a. system is funded by this committee. we are here to ensure those who wore the uniform get the care they deserve. linda, the new acting inspector general of the v.a., is here today. they will tell us why the system is failing our veterans. let me turn it over to senator collins. senator collins: thank y

dr. catherine mitchell who you heard from earlier and two other phoenix v.a. employees who were at the heart of the wait time scandal. my written testimony summarizes a number of the other cases we resolved through this expedited program including three v.a. whistleblower complaint settled last week. it's a sign of progress that the v.a. leadership agreed to the expedited review process and also agree to resolve many more cases through our regular processes, including mediation. 99 to be exact. we are also encouraged v.a. leadership has enlisted our assistance in training at counsel in retaliation law. on the disclosure site our work has led to important improvements at the v.a., as well as discipline for over 40 officials with many more cases pending. these disciplinary actions include the termination of employees who failed to properly safeguard patient information and a suspension of four employees who improperly handled and restocked expired prescription drugs. these are some of the positive steps we are seeing. there are, however, certain ongoing areas th

dr. catherine mitchell described the problems she encountered at the the a -- the v.a. n exchange with senator jack reed. dr. mitchell: they are evaluated on performance measures. the performance measures are artificial. you can be an exceptional for susan, drinkable patient care, but like in the er, if you are waiting five or six hours because we don't have the resources, my evaluations were dropped because we did not have the resources. i was not necessarily evaluated on what a good decision i was. senator reieded: so you are drowned get -- downgraded. dr. mitchell: you look at the system issue, not the person issue. many of the problems in the frontline are related to systems. many of the problems in the upper level management are related to people problems in there are truly administrative evil in the v.a. in order to benefit themselves professionally. announcer: just part of a hearing coming up on c-span. we will hear more from doctors on retaliation at the the a -- the v.a. coming up on c-span, the voters first for him -- voters first forum. so far, 14 candidates i

dr. catherine mitchell describes the problem she encountered at the v.a. dr. mitchell: there is a problem with the way the physicians and other staff are evaluated. they are evaluated on performance measures in the performance measures are artificial. you can be an exceptional physician and do incredible patient care, but if you wait for six hours because we didn't have the resources, my evaluations are dropped because we didn't have the resources. i wasn't evaluated on what a physician i was. >> so there is a resource in the sense that you don't have what you need to get the job done officially, therefore you are downgraded? dr. mitchell: there is a system called just culture and if a problem is identified you look at the system. many of the problems in the frontline are related to system. many of the problems in upper and level management are resulted of people. there is truly administrative evil within the v.a.. they deliberately overlook issues of patient care in order to benefit themselves professionally. >> just part of a hearing coming up at 9:50 p.m. e

dr. catherine mitchell, and other employees who were at the heart of the scandal. my testimony summarizes and number of cases we resolved through this program, including three complaints last week. it is a set of service that the leadership agreed to the expedited due process and agree to resolve many cases to our regular processes, including mediation. 99, to be exact. he encouraged the vision has enlisted assistance in retaining counsel. under disclosure from our work has led to improvements as well as discipline for over 40 officials with many cases pending. he's actions included termination of employees who fail to test the suspension of employees who improperly restocked expired prescription drugs. there are several ongoing areas that require more attention. of concern is the accessing employees' medical records. in many instances v.a. employees are themselves veterans. in several cases, their records have been asked that this has been accessed. we will pursue relief for his arrest and discipline for those who improperly processed medical records. i notified t