ms. lerner can say there's been progress when we have ms. lerner saying she attributes the increase of complaints to the fact people are feeling more comfortable coming forward. at the same time that ms. flanz is admitting that there has been literally no accountability on the part of the people retaliating against whistleblowers. can either one of you explain that conundrum to me? ms. flanz: i would like to try. we are committed to ensuring that supervisors who retaliate against whistleblowers are held accountable. >> let me stop right there. it seems to me that maybe it is my prosecutorial background, if you want to send a message that road doors will be held accountable you actually have to hold at least one accountable. if you look at the numbers of complaints, they far outweigh any level of accountability. please explain that. ms. flanz again, i would like to very much. we have ongoing investigations right now that will provide as the evidence necessary to hold employees'supervisors accountable. until recently, we have not had the collab

ms. lerner said.ople feel comfortable raising disclosures whether to members of the committee or -- rep. coffman: i think they are willing to take a risk. ms. lerner: i would agree with that. the whistleblowers left come forward today to provide their stories, it is an act of cour age. something we need to celebrate because disclosures about problems give us an opportunity to fix them. if we do not learn about them we're not able to improve. to ms. lerner's point, we do need to to understand what it is that is driving these numbers continuing to drive these numbers and be able careful not to assume good or bad things about the numbers. the fact people are coming forward with a concert is an indicator -- with concerns is an indicator. the fact that they are bringing them forward it means we have the opportunity to identify the problems. rep. coffman: can you comment give me some idea, we had testimony from the witnesses here that are whistleblowers that in no disciplinary action has been taken a guess

ms. lerner. but i do want to thank the whistleblowers for bringing your individual cases and encourage you to work with our good colleagues. i know representative robie is on the case for you, mr. tremaine. and encourage you to work with the office of special counsel as well to make sure you get the protection you deserve we don't have any other tragedies. >> absolutely. the office of special counsel has been a lifeline working with page kennedy and nadia piunta throughout this ordeal for the last year made a huge difference. i don't think there's any question they're totally understaffed. but the opportunities i had to speak with them made a huge difference in my ordeal. >> good. and i hope your situation will get resolved. and it sounds like we've got 45 settlements of va whistleblower cases which hopefully did bring some relief to those people. and i know there have been reinstatements with back pay and such. and it's important to send that signal to others. one of the issues that i wanted to

ms. lerner.but i do want to thank the whistleblowers for bringing your individual cases and encourage you to work with our good colleagues. i know representative robie is on the case for you, mr. tremaine. and encourage you to work with the office of special counsel as well to make sure you get the protection you deserve we don't have any other tragedies. >> absolutely. the office of special counsel has been a lifeline working with page kennedy and nadia piunta throughout this ordeal for the last year made a huge difference. i don't think there's any question they're totally understaffed. but the opportunities i had to speak with them made a huge difference in my ordeal. >> good. and i hope your situation will get resolved. and it sounds like we've got 45 settlements of va whistleblower cases which hopefully did bring some relief to those people. and i know there have been reinstatements with back pain and such. and it's important to send that signal to others. one of the issues that i wanted to

ms. lerner: i don't know, but i will find out. rep. benishek: obviously he is back in good faith and i would like that. rep. benthis is the same supervisor you have had all along? dr. head: no, really, it is dr. dean norman. rep. benishek: this is not a hip of violation, so why are they accused of violations? ms. flanz: we are very protective of patient care information and not all supervisors are aware of the right of supervisors to provide that information to other oversight bodies. rep. benishek: miss lerner, what changes have occurred since last year's hearing? ms. lerner: we have many more cases to investigate. we have been able to do a little bit of hiring, working full-time on v.a. cases and the expedited review system, hiring additional staff to work cases. our process works -- we have been getting relief or whistleblowers and getting people back to work, getting adverse personnel actions. i think people feel more comfortable and know about us and we are getting more cases. rep. benishek: thank you. doctor tell me what your res