{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://nolan.house.gov//media-center/in-the-news/star-tribune-va-inspector-general-will-probe-allegations-of-misconduct-at", "Star Tribune: VA inspector general will probe allegations of misconduct at Hibbing clinic", "2014-12-04", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "MN", "Rick Nolan", "N000127", "nolan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The Veterans Affairs office of inspector general announced Wednesday that it has begun investigating alleged misconduct at a Hibbing VA outpatient clinic.\nNumerous former clinic workers have claimed they were ordered to manipulate the schedules for veterans\u2019 appointments to make it appear they were being seen within their desired appointment date when they were actually being seen as much as six to eight weeks out.\nThe allegations included the assertion that employees were ordered to backdate medical appointment dates, a practice known as schedule \u201cscrubbing.\u201d\nThe former employees maintain that the backdating orders stopped only in late April, when investigators found that the VA medical system, which serves almost 9 million veterans nationwide every year, was maintaining secret waiting lists and delivering insufficient care.\nA May report from the VA\u2019s inspector general described improper scheduling as \u201csystemic,\u201d and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki was forced to resign amid the controversy.\nThe Hibbing clinic is run by Cincinnati-based Sterling Medical, which manages at least four other VA community-based outpatient clinics in Minnesota, including Mankato, St. James and Ely.\nIn November, U.S. Sens.\u00a0Amy Klobuchar\u00a0and\u00a0Al Franken, and U.S. Reps. Tim Walz and Rick Nolan called for an investigation after allegations of misconduct at the clinic surfaced in reporting in the Star Tribune.\nNolan, who represents the Hibbing area in Congress, met with a group of the ex-workers in November.\nAfterward, Nolan called the accusations \u201cvery troubling\u201d and said he would speak with VA Secretary Bob McDonald about his concerns.\nThe\u00a0Minneapolis\u00a0VA has said it welcomes the probe. Sterling has said the clinic never ordered its employees to backdate appointments.\nThe inspector general is an independent investigative arm of the VA. A spokeswoman said the announcement that it was initiating an investigation was a routine courtesy to the state\u2019s congressional delegation.\nShe could not give an indication when the inquiry might conclude.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://nolan.house.gov//media-center/in-the-news/star-tribune-va-inspector-general-will-probe-allegations-of-misconduct-at"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0779020376503468, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}