Miss. delegation: Send new VA network head elsewhere

Jerry Mitchell | Clarion Ledger

Mississippi’s congressional delegation told Veterans Administration Secretary Robert McDonald that the new VA network head, Skye McDougall, belongs somewhere else.

“Mississippi veterans deserve more,” U.S. Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker and U.S. Reps. Bennie Thompson, Gregg Harper, Steven Palazzo and Trent Kelly wrote in a joint letter to McDonald.

McDougall, accused of giving false testimony to Congress, is slated to be the new head of the South Central VA Health Care Network, which includes Mississippi.

In March, McDougall, as director of the Desert Pacific Health Care Network covering Southern California, testified before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs that Los Angeles veterans were waiting just four days for doctor appointments.

CNN responded in a report that the actual wait was 10 times longer.

The report said internal VA documents showed more than 12,700 patients seeking specialist consults had to wait at least three months for appointments, and the average delay for a first-time primary-care appointment was 48 days.

McDougall also told the House committee that mental-health patients on average were able to get appointments in four days, but records obtained by CNN showed an average wait of 36 days.

Mississippi’s congressional delegation complained that McDougall had “misled” Congress about wait times and “has proven to be, at the very least, untrustworthy as it relates to the vitally important task of providing for the health care needs of our veterans.”

Dr. Carolyn Clancy, acting undersecretary with the Veterans Health Administration, has defended McDougall’s testimony.

According to Clancy, the VA uses two methods to calculate wait times, with dramatically different results. She contended the documents obtained by CNN reflected long waits for appointments, but an alternative data set showing rapid service is "the best indicator of the veteran’s actual wait time experience.”

The VA originally named McDougall to take over as director of the Southwest Health Care Network, but after U.S. Sen. John McCain objected to her overseeing the network that included the troubled VA hospital in Phoenix, she announced she wouldn’t take that job after all, choosing to work in the network that oversees Jackson VA, which has seen its share of woes.

Mississippi’s congressional delegation said the Department of Veterans Affairs has been “hopscotching” McDougall “around the country — from Southern California to New Mexico and from Arizona to Mississippi — searching for a soft landing for her. We are determined to see to it that her soft landing is not in Mississippi.”

The letter pointed out that “Mississippi veterans have suffered due to mismanagement in the VA system including, but not limited to, understaffing of essential care stations, problems in meeting established health care standards, and prevalent medical errors leading to serious harm to our veterans and, in some cases, death. The VA system in Mississippi is making progress in addressing recent problems but we believe the appointment of Dr. McDougall would only impede this progress and exacerbate existing issues.”

Given her track record “and the VA’s ongoing effort to earn back the trust of veterans in Mississippi and across the country, we strongly urge you to rescind this selection and, instead, appoint a senior leader who will work to provide the best possible service for our veterans.”

McDougall, who has 24 years of VA experience, wrote in an email to The Arizona Republic, that the controversy played no role in her change of heart about taking over the Southwest Health Care network. "After careful consideration of the position and the needs of my family, I decided to pursue other opportunities and look forward to leading VISN 16 (South Central VA Health Care Network).”

Cochran said Tuesday that he has been concerned about recent staffing decisions in Washington that "could negatively affect our veterans. While I have been assured that steps are being made to improve VA health care and operations in Mississippi, I think relocating Dr. McDougall to our state is a mistake that could impede this progress.”

Contact Jerry Mitchell at jmitchell@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7064. Follow @jmitchellnews on Twitter.