Cold War Veterans Blog

VA removes leaders of New York regional office

BY MARTIN C. EVANS martin.evans@ newsday.com
November 23, 2008


The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has reassigned the director of its New York regional office after finding that employees there misdated hundreds of claims to make it appear they were being processed on time.

Without referring by name to the New York director, Patricia Amberg-Blyskal, VA spokeswoman Alison Aikele said last week that the director and five other top managers were ousted after investigators discovered a pattern of deception in the handling of claims at the regional headquarters at 245 W. Houston St. in Manhattan.


"It was systematically enough of a problem that we removed the leadership," Aikele said.

The shake-up at the New York regional office, which serves 800,000 vets living in eastern New York State, came as veterans organizations and members of Congress have criticized the federal agency for mishandling, losing or destroying the benefits claims of veterans.



"The reports of date changing and document shredding at the N.Y. regional VA office are unacceptable and insulting to those who served our country," said Rep. Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills) in a prepared statement.

A summary of an investigation by the VA obtained by Newsday showed that of 20 claims examined by VA investigators at the New York office during a July visit, 16 had been marked with apparently phony dates to suggest their processing had begun within the required seven days of their arrival.

A wider audit in August showed that 56.4 percent of claims carried incorrect intake dates, according to the summary, which was dated Nov. 10. According to the summary, several employees told VA investigators that their supervisor had instructed them to enter incorrect dates, and that the practice was widely known.

VA investigators also found that the New York office has ignored "significant amounts" of its mail, officials said. An Oct. 6 visit by investigators, for example, turned up 700 pieces of mail that had not been acted upon. Aikele also said investigators recovered at least five documents related to claims that had been improperly placed in shredder bins.

On Friday, Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) wrote to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peak, asking to be apprised of the situation in the New York Regional Office.

Amberg-Blyskal did not reply to a reporter's requests for an interview.

The summary said "the director and assistant director were initially placed on administrative leave but now have been detailed to other work sites to complete assigned projects." Four other managers were placed on administrative leave, according to the summary.

Last week, two veterans organizations filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking to force the VA to handle benefits claims more quickly, saying veterans often wait a year before their applications are processed, and as long as four years for appeals.



Joe's Note: The two Vet organizations that filed the lawsuit last week were the VVA and the Veterans of Modern Warfare.