we're putting in place a comprehensive external audit of scheduling practices across the ntire v.h.a. system. worry building a system for measuring patient satisfaction, which i believe will be central to our measurement processes in the future. i've personally visited 10 v.a. medical centers in the last six weeks to hear directly from the field on the actions being taken to get veterans off wait list and into clinics. i leave later today for albuquerque and el paso. the inappropriate 14-day access measure has been removed from all performance plans to eliminate any motive for inappropriate scheduling practices. in the course of completing this task, over 13,000 performance plans were amended. where negligence is documented, appropriate personnel actions will be taken. this also applies to whistle blower retaliation. i'm sure we'll talk about that further. i've frozen hiring as a first step to ensure that we're all working to support those delivering care directly to veterans. v.h.a. has dispatched teams to provide direct assistance to facilities requiring the most improvement, includ