The recent release of a report by the Office of the Inspector General of Veterans Affairs that found the Iowa City VA had assigned 1,245 active patients to ghost panels or to primary care providers who are no longer employed with the VA, has drawn a call for action from the legislature. Senator Joni Ernst has contacted the Director for the VA Midwest Health Care Network, Janet Murphy, and Iowa City VA Director, Judith Johnson-Mekota asking for a concrete plan of action for reassignment and re-distribution to quality care providers. Ernst said in her letter that even though it does not say any of the 1,245 veterans were denied timely care, the report still raises red flags that many of them may have been placed outside of the system that allows for accurate and honest measures of wait times.
