dr. head and mr. tremaine. and dr. hooker too. when you make an allegation, obviously you're not a team player right then. so what is it to lead me to believe that you're just not an incompetent employee, you're just -- you're just out you're a troublemaker, you don't want to work with the team we have all been on the team before, and when you're looking -- what is to make me, because i've seen this happen before where you -- how do i know dr. head is a very good doctor. he just might not be very good, so we move you out of the clinic and put you in a closet or somewhere, and essentially move you out of clinical care, just to get you out of the way. and it is very hard to protect your reputation if you have two or three or four senior people ahead of you who are making those allegations. so how do you protect yourself from that, to follow up on miss rice's statements. how do you do that? how do i know you're not sitting here -- >> well my reputation speaks for itself. and my -- my education clinical expertise and track record spea

tremaine and dr. head and i just can't tell you how much i appreciate your encouragement and your willingness to help us get this right. >> thank you. and i think your passion speaks for itself. and i think when i mentioned being on the right team, there's no question that our representative has been an advocate for veterans that we haven't seen the likes of. so thank you so much for that, ma'am. >> thank you very much. just a brief follow-up among the lines of representative rice, and i want to ask miss lerner, this is sort of procedural, but i think it will get at an important point. you talked about the office of medical inspector now doing a more proactive or interactive follow-up to the recommendations, and you mentioned including disciplinary action, and that seems to be what's hanging in the room over this hearing. our disappointment that it sounds as though it's a more rigorous investigation of the whistleblowers, than of those that have been standing behind retaliation. and to me, and i think

tremaine and dr.ead and i just can't tell you how much i appreciate your encouragement and your willingness to help us get this right. >> thank you. and i think your passion speaks for itself. and i think when i mentioned being on the right ñteam there's no question that our representative has been an advocate for veterans that we haven't seen the likes of. so thank you so much for that, ma'am. >> thank you very much. just a brief follow-up among the lines of representative rice, and i want to ask miss lerner this is sort of procedural, but i think it will get at an important point. you talked about the office of medical inspector now doing a more proactive or interactive follow-up to the recommendations, and you mentioned including disciplinary action, and that seems to be what's hanging in the room over this hearing. our disappointment that it sounds as though it's a more rigorous investigation of the whistleblowers, than of those that have been standing behind retaliation. and to me, and i think th

dr. hooker and mr. tremaine don't have the actual physical stitches, they are surely bearing the figurative ones. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, miss rice. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm still trying to figure out parts of the testimony. i am looking at a document from november 2014. rebuilding trust from the va secretary. at that time you did note there were over 100 investigations currently being undertaken. do you have a rough figure of what those numbers are today? >> i believe he was speaking to the i.g.'s ongoing investigations into alleged misuse of scheduling and wait list systems. the ig was at its most active point, active at 98 sites. they have completed their work at several of them. just to make sure i have the right data here -- they've completed their work at 43 of those sites. they have substantiated some scheduling and propriety at 14 of the 43. they found no particular impropriety at 29, and their investigations are ongoing at the balance. >> so that's at the 100 from november still ha

dr. hooker. mr. tremaine you now have five minutes. >> thank you, chairman coffman, committee members and our representative robie. i'm here with you today to testify about the unacceptable, vicious, and retaliation against sheila use and myself at the health care center where the director james dalton became the first senior executive service member in history fired for neglect of duty. the chief of staff also under investigation was on paid leave for six months and quietly retired in december 2014. with disingenuous claims of improvement, there remains an atmosphere of exclusion and retaliation against those who did not support dalton or subsequently the dangerously inexperienced leadership and ineffectual management of mr. robin jackson, the deputy network director over dalton during his tenure and who was immediately planted as interim director by charles sepich, the visiting director. dr. mousse and i were two seasoned and experienced yet idealistic newcomers to the leadership team in march of 2014. alth

dr. hooker. mr. tremaine, you now have five minutes. >> thank you, chairman coffman, committee members, and our representative robie. i'm here with you today to testify about the unacceptable, vicious, and retaliation against sheila use and myself at the health care center where the director james dalton became the first senior executive service member in history fired for neglect of duty. the chief of staff also under investigation was on paid leave for six months and quietly retired in december 2014. with disingenuous claims of improvement, there remains an atmosphere of exclusion and retaliation against those who did not support dalton or subsequently the dangerously inexperienced leadership and ineffectual management of mr. robin jackson, the deputy network director over dalton during his tenure and who was immediately planted as interim director by charles sepich, the visiting director. dr. mousse and i were two seasoned and experienced yet idealistic newcomers to the leadership team in march of 2014. al