Roughly half the schedulers at multiple Veterans Affairs hospitals said they received instructions from supervisors to falsify data and hide the true time it took patients to be seen by a doctor after making an appointment , new details from an internal VA audit show . Schedulers said supervisors directed them to manipulate information so their centers could meet performance goals , which would help top officials get bonuses , according to documents obtained by CNN . The new information also provided to Congress this week includes updates from specific VA hospitals that were not included in an internal audit released last month by the embattled agency . The ongoing saga involves multiple investigations into delayed care , potentially with deadly results , alarming management shortcomings and a culture that was said to have compromised the mission of providing prompt and effective medical care to millions of veterans , some of them returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan . New VA secretary confirmed . VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned over the scandal in May . His replacement , Robert McDonald , was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday unanimously . The former corporate CEO and ex-Army officer has pledged to swiftly introduce reforms . Under pressure from constituents back home and most members facing voters in November , Congress is poised to approve a $ 17 billion bipartisan proposal before the week is out . It would allow the agency to hire more medical staff , lease new facilities , and give veterans the opportunity to seek care outside the VA system . It would also allow the VA secretary to more easily fire top officials . Details of delayed care were first reported by CNN in an investigation of two VA hospitals in the Southeast . Since , CNN reporting has expanded to include more hospitals and details of delayed care and allegations that up to 40 deaths were tied to the problem . Congress comes up with a deal on veterans . Greater range of problems . While the Phoenix VA medical center has received the most national scrutiny , the new information shows in greater depth a range of problems affecting numerous facilities nationwide . VA hospitals in Montgomery , Alabama , Clarksburg , West Virginia , and White City , Oregon , were among the worst cited in the new information . About 50 % of schedulers at those facilities reported being told by their superiors to falsify data . Moreover , schedulers in Washington , Richmond , Gainesville , Florida , and San Juan , Puerto Rico , and elsewhere used `` outside tracking logs '' to hide long delays in care by not properly recording information in the scheduling system , the documents showed . Numerous other VA medical centers may have improperly used `` paper wait lists '' or excel spreadsheets to hide delays , according to the new internal audit details . Data from the audit released last month found that 13 % of schedulers surveyed nationally said they were directed by hospital administrators to enter appointment dates that were different from those requested by a veteran . But the newly released data showed 55 of the VA medical centers audited had more than 13 % of schedulers reporting such direction , the documents showed . Bad VA care may have killed more than 1,000 veterans , senator 's report says . Coaching schedulers . Scheduling staff training has been controversial throughout recent investigations of VA management . The audit also showed that half of schedulers surveyed could not remember the date of their last training . The findings also showed there were attempts to coach and prepare staff and schedulers in a number of cases before they were questioned by auditors . House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller said any VA administrator who ordered employees to purposely manipulate patient wait times should be immediately fired . `` The environment in today 's Veterans Health Administration is one in which some VA executives are so driven in their quest for performance bonuses , promotions and power that they are willing to lie , cheat and put the health of the veterans they were hired to serve at risk , '' Miller said . Gingrich Opinion : We owe our veterans real change . VA takes action . The VA said in a statement on its website on Tuesday that it had proposed `` a series of disciplinary '' actions against six employees in Cheyenne , Wyoming , and Fort Collins , Colorado , as a result of the audit . `` Employees who have been found to have manipulated data , withheld accurate information from their supervisors , and affected the timeliness of care veterans receive do not reflect VA 's values , and their actions will not be tolerated , '' said Acting Secretary Sloan Gibson . Carolyn Lerner , head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel , said , `` We are encouraged by the VA 's action in response to Office of Special Counsel 's reports regarding whistleblower disclosures of manipulated wait-time data that masked scheduling problems at the VA 's Cheyenne and Fort Collins facilities . '' The office is charged with representing whistleblowers across the country . Who is Bob McDonald ? Veterans waiting longer for cancer care . 'Corrosive culture , ' weak leadership cripple VA , report says .
Schedulers said they received instructions from supervisors to falsify information . They were also told to hide the true time it took patients to be seen by doctors . The investigation found that some of those who had been prescribed opioids for chronic pain did not have a legitimate reason for needing them, and others may have misused their prescriptions. Allegations of delayed care , mismanagement and poor culture have rocked the VA .