and so dr. lynch, am i correct in that? >> yes. >> so there was a potential of a financial bonus if people hit certain, certain criteria. >> sure. >> today that doesn't exist. >> so you allowed -- people were allowed to retire who were under investigation, who were complicit in manipulating

shulkin and he's accompanied by dr. lynch. assistant deputy under secretary for health and clinical operations. from the office of inspector general, we have mr. larry reinkemeyer. he we'll hear from ms. debra draper director of the healthcare team at the government accountability office. i would ask if the witnesses would please stand so we can swear you in. raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear under penalty of perjury the testimony you're about to provide is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth? thank you. please be seated. let the record reflect that all witnesses did answer in the affirmative. dr. shulkin you are recognized for your opening statement of five minutes. >> good morning, chairman miller. ranking member brown, members of the committee. as the chairman said i'm accompanied by dr. thomas lynch, the assistant deputy under secretary for clinical operations. seated bemihind me is the senio advisor. i arrived at va nine months ago. i understood this access crisis was a national priority and the

and so dr. lynch, am i correct in that? >> yes. >> so there was a potential of a financial bonus if people hit certain, certain criteria. >> sure. >> today that doesn't exist. >> so you allowed -- people were allowed to retire who were under investigation, who were complicit in manipulating appointment wait times is that correct?? >> i think i said the investigation didn't conclude. before the investigation was able to conclude they retired from federal service. >> but this involves fraud and fraud is a criminal issue. how many criminal referrals occurred of people who were involved in this scandal? >> my understanding, i don't know whether the inspector general can help us with this. was we don't have -- i think h was senator blumenthal ask that the department of justice come in to look at this and they ended up declining on looking at most of these cases. but i know there are referrals from the ig to the criminal division. >> could someone comment on that? >> there are referrals and i know in every case where we suspect s

dr. alazm. >> chairman fitzpatrick, ranking member lynch, members of the committee and task force. thank you for allowing me to testify. i would like to thank the task force for the work to highlight complex nature of terrorism financing including weekly email clips and stakeholders on the subject. i submitted my more detailed testimony for the record. i will focus on two points. one, problem of terrorism financing through conflict zone looting of conflict and money laundering and global art industry as representative lynch you accurately pointed out. the need for improved aml compliance and connection with art and cultural objects as an asset class which can only happen at intersection of art and financial industries. if we remove ability of terrorists to launder stolen and cultural art objects we remove the economic motive to loot the objects, cut off a key source of terrorism financing and make great strides towards protecting important parts of the world's cultural legacy. two, effective solutions are now within reach. aris reviewing with trade and financial regulators in the u

dr. fallon, you are recognized for five minutes. >> good afternoon, chairman. ranking member lynch and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to update the committee on progress in the va ptsd service dog study which pairs veterans with pts with service dogs. i am accompanied today to my right by dr. patricia dora. in, director of the rehabilitation research and development service, and dr. chris crow, senior liaison to the center for psychological health. the 2010 national defense authorization act directed va to undertake a study to assess the benefits, feasibility and advisability of using service dogs for the treatment or rehabilitation of veterans with physical or mental injuries or disabilities, including ptsd. the benefits of utilizing service dogs and guide dogs for physical disabilities are well established. therefore, va designed the study to focus on veterans with ptsd because ptsd is a high-priority health issue to veterans and the benefits of service dogs in assisting people with ptsd are not established in the scientific literature. this is a groun

lynch: so we were actually evaluating open consults. evaluating pending appointments. assessing patients prior to that. the standdown was a way to bring together the five points that are in dr. shulkin's priorities. we focused on access, engaged our employees. we looked to the community for help where we needed it. we engaged best practices from across the networks and we were working to basically restore trust with our veterans. ms. brown: i just want to say the next time you all schedule a standdown it will be good to let the members know because we would like to -- i know i would like to be at my center on a saturday when you are all planning. secretary shulkin: i know the last standdown, congresswoman, i was in orlando, florida, and there were members of the congressional staff there. so we welcome your involvement. ms. brown: last question. what policy directives have resulted from the standdowns? secretary shulkin: what we've done as a result of the standdown, we sequestered a team of people from the field, not from the central office, who have told us what needs to be done to redesign the system so we don't ever get long wait lists again of veterans who need care urg

. >> as part of people's performance evaluations, dr. lynch, am i correct in that? >> yes. >> so there was a potential of a financial bonus if people hit certain criteria. >> sure. >> today that doesn't exist. >> there is nobody. >> yeah. >> so you allowed -- people were allowed to retire who were under who were come police it in manipulating employment wait times. >> how many occur of people who were involved in this scandal. >> my understanding, i don't know whether the inspector general can help us with this was that we did ask, i think this was actually center blooming thal that asked the department of justice come and look at this and they ended up declining looking at most of these cases. i know there are referrals that go. >> could someone comment on that? >> there are referrals and i know in every case where we suspect something we will make that referral. i can tell you, this is not my area of expertise, but i think a lot of the money that you're referring to, the bonuses while inappropriate is not necessarily a high dollar amount and there's not a lot of a