Watchdog: VA Failed to Track Nearly 1 Million Veteran Specialty Care Calls

A preliminary report found that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is failing to track how many patient calls it is answering, potentially putting veterans care at risk. 

The preliminary findings from the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that in 13 of the 15 medical facilities inspected, caller hang up rates, answer rates, and average wait times were not properly tracked. 

In addition, leaders at those 13 facilities had no oversight of call performance for 49 of 78 clinics, leaving about one million phone calls untracked for the year ending July 31, 2025. 

The OIG says the lack of data is “making it difficult to determine whether veterans reached specialty care clinics quickly and easily,” and is limiting the ability of VA leadership to identify delays, staffing shortages, and access problems. 

As a result, “The OIG is disseminating these findings to ensure all VHA medical facilities are aware of and can proactively start collecting and overseeing specialty care call data.”

Unanswered Calls at Radiology and Mental Health Clinics

The report notes that radiology and mental health clinics face significant challenges. Out of the one million untracked calls, at least 338,000 were to radiology clinics and 109,000 to mental health clinics.

The OIG included stories of veterans’ families, with one spouse of a cancer patient noting that phone calls went to voicemail with return calls not made despite promised follow up. The OIG also observed multiple patients driving to clinics in cities including Washington, DC, and Miami, after phone calls went unanswered. 

The VA, however, says its wait times for mental health appointments were six days and under for established patients and 19 days for new patients.

The OIG’s review is ongoing.