The Republic | azcentral.com

The VA was told in 2012 its outpatient medical-appointment wait times were "unreliable."

Phoenix whistle-blowers went to federal investigators with complaints in fall 2013.

U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki comes under attack in recent weeks as matters heat up.

Early 2012

Dr. Katherine Mitchell, a Department of Veterans Affairs emergency-room physician, warns Sharon Helman, incoming director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System, that the Phoenix ER is overwhelmed and dangerous. Mitchell now alleges she was told within days by senior administrators that she had deficient communication skills and was transferred out of the ER.

Later in 2012

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs orders implementation of electronic wait-time tracking and makes improved patient access a top priority. In December, the Government Accountability Office tells the Veterans Health Administration that its reporting of outpatient medical-appointment wait times is "unreliable," that scheduling policies are not uniform nationwide and that improvements are needed.

March 2013

The GAO's Debra Draper tells a subcommittee of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee: "Although access to timely medical appointments is critical to ensuring that veterans obtain needed medical care, long wait times and inadequate scheduling processes at VAMCs (medical centers) have been persistent problems, as we and the VA Office of Inspector General have reported."

July 2013

In an e-mail exchange among employees at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix, an employee questions whether administrators are improperly touting their Wildly Important Goals program as a success because it shows a dramatic reduction in wait times for patient appointments. "I think it's unfair to call any of this a success when veterans are waiting six weeks on an electronic waiting list before they're called to schedule their first PCP (primary-care provider) appointment," program analyst Damian Reese complains. "Sure, when their appointment was created, (it) can be 14 days out, but we're making them wait 6-20 weeks to create that appointment. That is unethical and a disservice to our veterans."

September 2013

Mitchell files a confidential complaint intended for the VA Office of Inspector General, channeled through Arizona Sen. John McCain's office. Her list of concerns instead goes to the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs and eventually back to the VA, which responds in February 2013. It does not address her most serious complaints. Mitchell, meanwhile, is placed on administrative leave.

October 2013

Dr. Sam Foote, a doctor of internal medicine at the Phoenix VA, files a complaint with the VA Office of Inspector General alleging purported successes in reducing wait times stem from manipulation of data, not improved service, and that vets are dying while awaiting appointments for medical care.

December 2013

Foote retires, assuming the role of whistle-blower by meeting with Arizona Republic reporter Dennis Wagner. He details allegations that patients have died while awaiting care at the Phoenix VA and that wait times have been falsified. The same month, inspector general's investigators visit Phoenix to look into whistle-blowers' complaints.

April 9, 2014

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, says during a hearing that dozens of VA hospital patients in Phoenix may have died while awaiting medical care. He says staff investigators have evidence that the Phoenix VA Health Care System keeps two sets of records to conceal prolonged patient waits for appointments and treatment.

April 16, 2014

A Phoenix rally organized by Concerned Veterans for America and attended by Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., draws 150 veterans and their supporters calling for solutions to the controversy.

May 1, 2014

U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki places Helman and two others on administrative leave pending an outcome to the inspector general's probe.

May 2, 2014

Mitchell goes public with her allegations about mismanagement of the Phoenix VA system and her concerns about wait times, noting that she and a co-worker moved to protect some documents as evidence.

May 5, 2014

The American Legion's national leaders call for Shinseki's resignation. Shinseki says he intends to stay put.

May 8, 2014

Shinseki orders records audits of all VA health-care facilities around the U.S. a day after U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., makes the request.

May 9, 2014

McCain, R-Ariz., holds a veterans' town hall in Phoenix where he proposes a new system that would allow veterans to go outside the VA to seek private health care at government expense.

May 12, 2014

Steve Young takes over as interim director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System.

May 15, 2014

The U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs holds a four-hour hearing. Acting Veterans Affairs Inspector General Richard Griffin reveals that the team probing complaints about Phoenix VA facilities includes criminal investigators.

May 16, 2014

Dr. Robert Petzel, the under secretary for health and second in command at the Department of Veterans Affairs, departs the agency. Shinseki says Petzel resigned, though the agency had announced Petzel's planned retirement last September.

May 20, 2014

Officials disclose that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors will visit Phoenix for meetings with leaders of the Phoenix VA Health Care System.

May 21, 2014

President Barack Obama pledges in a televised press briefing that the administration will thoroughly investigate allegations of misconduct at VA facilities in Phoenix and across the country. He says he expects preliminary results of the review in Phoenix within a week and will punish any misconduct. The American Legion's national leaders call for Shinseki's resignation. Shinseki says he intends to stay put.

May 28, 2014

The VA's Office of Inspector General releases a scathing interim report that confirms whistle-blower allegations of mismanagement and the manipulation of data related to patient wait times. Among the findings: Phoenix was reporting wait times of just 24 days, while the actual delay in appointments averaged nearly four months, and 1,700 veterans had signed up for initial appointments in Phoenix but did not appear on any wait lists. Investigators said it will take further analysis to determine whether any veteran deaths resulted directly from falsified records and prolonged waits.

Angry lawmakers on the U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs blast three senior VA officials during a lengthy night hearing, accusing the agency of stonewalling and showing indifference to the suffering of veterans.

May 28-29, 2014

There is a renewed chorus of calls for Shinseki's resignation or ouster.

May 30, 2014

Shinseki makes a speech in which he says he has begun the process for removing senior leaders at the Phoenix VA, and apologizes to all veterans and the nation for the scandal involving the systemic delay of health care to veterans. Obama later meets with Shinseki where the VA secretary offers his resignation. Minutes later, the president announces he accepted Shinsenki's resignation "with considerable regret." Obama names VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson as interim head of the department while he selects a permanent replacement. He pledges to veterans "we will never stop working to do right by you and your families."

June 5, 2014

Gibson visits the Phoenix VA hospital. He tells reporters that 18 of the 1,700 Arizona vets who were seeking first-time appointments with primary-care doctors, but were excluded from the VA's electronic waiting list, died before they were contacted.

June 9, 2014

The VA releases reports that finds VA medical centers nationwide have misrepresented or sidetracked patient scheduling for more than 57,000 former military personnel, and about 64,000 more were not even on the agency's electronic waiting list for doctor appointments they requested. Major reforms are announced, including an administrative hiring freeze, increased transparency and the cancellation of bonuses to employees who meet a goal for scheduling doctor appointments. An additional "front line" team is sent to Phoenix to immediately rectify problems with patient backlogs, appointment scheduling and record-keeping.

June 10, 2014

The American Legion opens a four-day "crisis command center" at Phoenix Post 1 to offer assistance to Arizona veterans who have had difficulties trying to get appointments or other services through the Phoenix VA Health Care System. The center has a "triage team" to help veterans with benefits claims, enrollment in VA health care and bereavement counseling.The U.S. House votes 421-0 to approve legislation making it easier for VA patients enduring long waits for care to get VA-paid treatment from private doctors.

June 11, 2014

The U.S. Senate approves its version of VA reform legislation easing restrictions on the firing of senior VA bureaucrats and, like House legislation, making it easier for veterans to get care outside the VA system when backlogs develop. Cost is a key difference between the House and Senate bills, sending the matter to a conference committee.

June 23, 2014

The Office of Special Counsel sends a scathing letter to President Barack Obama saying the Department of Veterans Affairs consistently ignored whistle-blower warnings about dangerous practices that jeopardized patient safety. The letter says the failure of Phoenix VA officials to heed alerts about fraudulent appointment scheduling is part of a "troubling pattern" nationally where the VA investigated and verified complaints but did nothing to correct problems. Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson immediately orders a review of the department's response system for dealing with whistle-blower complaints.

Pauline DeWenter, a scheduling employee for the Phoenix VA Health Care System, goes public and discloses that she was the keeper of a "secret list" of local veterans who waited months for medical care. She accused others of altering records recently to try to hide the deaths of at least seven veterans awaiting care.

June 24, 2014

K.J. Sloan, a clinical social worker with the Phoenix VA, says she was stripped of an assignment overseeing an ethics review in July 2013 after writing a report criticizing the Phoenix VA Health Care System for misleading veterans and employees about appointment delays.

July 9, 2014

Glenn Costie, director of the VA Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, temporarily takes the helm of the Phoenix VA, where he will serve through Nov. 6, then return to Ohio. He is the second temporary chief to take over in Phoenix.

July 10, 2014

The House Veterans' Affairs Committee hears from families of veterans who committed suicide while awaiting mental health care from the VA. The hearing on gaps in the VA's treatment programs includes gripping testimony from the parents of Daniel Somers, a Phoenix veteran who died by his own hand in June 2013.

July 11, 2014

Phoenix VA Health Care System officials brief congressional staffers on strides they've made in contacting patients who were awaiting medical appointments when the VA scandal erupted. They say hospital representatives contacted approximately 2,800 veterans and were still trying to reach about 300 others. Of those who were reached, nearly 2,700 who wanted appointments were scheduled within 30 days.

July 22, 2014

Elizabeth Freeman, the Southwest VA's new regional health-care boss responsible for instituting reforms, is criticized by a national watchdog group for suspending an employee in California in June after he reported that patients in Palo Alto were being endangered.

July 23, 2014

The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee votes unanimously to support Robert McDonald's confirmation as the new, permanent VA secretary.

July 24, 2014

Negotiations over the VA overhaul legislation erupt after weeks of mounting tension over how much to spend reforming the troubled agency. House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and his Senate counterpart, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., clash publicly after weeks of talks about merging parallel reform bills.

July 25, 2014

Members of Arizona's congressional delegation urge the VA to investigate allegations by a watchdog group that Elizabeth Freeman, acting director of the VA Southwest Health Care Network, retaliated against a whistle-blowing employee in her previous VA post in California.

July 29, 2014

On the same day the U.S. Senate unanimously confirms Robert McDonald as the nation's next Veterans Affairs secretary, new audit findings from the Veterans Health Administration rip the VA health-care scheduling system as dysfunctional and dishonest.

July 30, 2014

The U.S. House of Representatives adopts compromise VA reform legislation after weekend negotiations by House and Senate conferees result in a $17 billion proposal. The bill moves to the Senate.

July 31, 2014

The U.S. Senate approves the reform bill, sending it to President Barack Obama. The bill makes it easier for veterans to seek care outside the VA system if they live a long distance from VA facilities, or they cannot get a timely appointment through their VA center. It also makes it easier to fire VA employees, giving the new VA secretary more latitude to clean house.

Aug. 19, 2014

Federal regulators announce interim rules to make it easier to fire VA senior executives under authority granted by the recent congressional legislation.

Aug. 26, 2014

A long-awaited VA inspector general report says operations at the Phoenix VA Health Care System reflect "unacceptable and troubling lapses in follow-up, coordination, quality and continuity of care," and that a flawed appointment system "adversely affected the quality of primary and specialty care" for patients. But it stops short of unequivocally concluding that veterans died because they had been sidetracked on so-called "secret wait lists."

Sept. 9, 2014

Members of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs challenge statements in the IG report that downplayed the effects of VA delays in delivering care to ailing veterans, implying the IG colluded with a the agency to blunt the public impact of the report.

Sept. 11, 2014

Arizona's congressional delegation sends a letter to VA Secretary Robert McDonald urging him to name a permanent leader of the Phoenix VA medical center, saying it "would benefit from increased stability among leadership."

Sept. 17, 2014

At a contentious congressional hearing, VA Inspector General Richard Griffin dismisses whistle-blower charges of a cover-up, but concedes that delayed treatment for thousands of Arizona veterans may have contributed to some deaths -- a reversal of the message in his agency's August report.

Sept. 29, 2014

A Concerned Veterans for America task force is launched to evaluate challenges to delivering veteran health care and the role the VA should play in the wake of changes in the health care industry. The VA, meanwhile, reaches settlement terms with three Phoenix whistle-blowers who filed retaliation complaints after helping to expose mismanagement and health-care breakdowns at the Phoenix VA medical center.

Oct. 21, 2014

The Joint Commission publishes findings indicating Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center failed a July inspection in 13 quality-control categories. The commission sets national standards for safety, patient care and management.

Nov. 4, 2014

The VA names longtime administrator Glen Grippen as the third interim executive to oversee the Phoenix VA Health Care System since May.

Nov. 24, 2014

Sharon Helman, director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System, was fired by the Veterans Affairs Department, nearly seven months after she and two high-ranking officials were placed on administrative leave amid allegations that 40 veterans died while awaiting treatment at the hospital.

Dec. 22, 2014

An administrative judge upholds Helman's firing based on findings that she improperly accepted gifts and perks from an industry lobbyist.

Jan. 20, 2015

The VA offers relief to more than two dozen employees who faced retaliation after filing whistle-blower complaints about wrongdoing at VA hospitals and clinics nationwide.

Jan. 28, 2015

An inspector general's report finds that care for urology patients at the Phoenix VA remains so flawed that veterans' lives may still be endangered.

March 13, 2015

President Barack Obama and his VA secretary visit the Phoenix VA to receive an update on efforts to improve. Secretary Robert McDonald says the VA is “making progress. (But) we're not where we want to be."

July 30, 2015

The VA’s new watchdog, Deputy Inspector General Linda Halliday, draws criticism from agency whistleblowers for testimony before the U.S. Senate in which she suggested many whistleblowers were wrong about the agency’s performance.

Sept. 2, 2015

Inspectors trying to figure out how many patients died during VA appointment backlogs conclude the agency's record-keeping is so muddled they cannot reliably say how many patients passed away.

October 2015

A scathing report on urology care at the Phoenix VA hospital says some sick veterans died awaiting care and hundreds were medically sidetracked or neglected because of short-staffing and mismanagement. The agency names Skye McDougall health-care director overseeing Southwest facilities. McDougall had been accused in spring 2015 of giving false testimony to Congress regarding patient wait times.

A judge finds that Phoenix VA officials engaged in whistleblower retaliation against Tonja Laney, chief fiscal officer for the Phoenix VA medical center, when they suspended her, searched her office, and investigated her after she tried to expose financial wrongdoing and mismanagement.

Nov. 11, 2015

USA Today discloses that the VA doled out more than $142 million in bonuses to executives and employees for performance in 2014, as the scandal was unfolding.

Nov. 19, 2015

An administrative judge rules that the VA cannot rescind a bonus paid to former Phoenix VA hospital Director Sharon Helman shortly before she was fired last year for misconduct.

March 1, 2016

Former VA hospital Director Sharon Helman pleads guilty to filing a false financial disclosure that failed to list more than $50,000 in gifts she had received from a lobbyist. Terms of the plea call for a sentence of probation.

March 15, 2016

The VA proposes to remove Phoenix VA Associate Director Lance Robinson; Dr. Darren Deering, the Phoenix hospital chief of staff; and Brad Curry, chief of health administration services in Phoenix, for their conduct during the 2014 wait-time scandal.

April 7, 2016

Investigative reports released by the VA Inspector General show supervisors instructed schedulers to falsify patient wait times at medical facilities in at least seven states.

May 16, 2016

A federal judge sentences former Phoenix VA Director Sharon Helman to two years of probation for failing to disclose thousands of dollars worth of gifts she received from a lobbyist friend.

June 1, 2016

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch informs Congress that the Justice Department will not contest former Phoenix VA director Sharon Helman's claim that federal firing procedures used against her were unconstitutional.

June 8, 2016

The VA announces three more Phoenix VA Health Care System administrators were fired in the aftermath of investigations that focused on a breakdown in service to veterans and retaliation against whistleblowers.

July 5, 2016

The national Commission on Care examining VA problems concludes Veterans Health Administration has "profound deficiencies" that require urgent reform and proposes a "bold transformation" to give veterans more health-care options.

Aug. 26, 2016

Phoenix VA Director Deborah Amdur, who led the hospital for nine months, announces she is retiring for health reasons. She is replaced in the interim by Barbara Fallen, Phoenix VA's fifth new boss since former Director Sharon Helman was removed in mid-2014.

Sept. 29, 2016

The VA names RimaAnn Nelson to assume permanent control in Phoenix, but the decision is criticized because a hospital she previously led got the lowest satisfaction rating among VA facilities.

Oct. 4, 2016

A new Office of Inspector General probe reports Phoenix VA patients still unable to get timely specialist appointments despite reforms, and that delayed care may be to blame for at least one more veteran's death.