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Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) has introduced legislation to strengthen veterans' mental healthcare by making it easier to get help outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The proposal would amend the Veterans’ Access, Choice, and Accountability Act, to allow veterans access to non-VA mental healthcare if they can show the agency is not giving them "adequate or timely" care. (Carney, 3/31)

A supervisor at the Veterans Administration office in Honolulu was manipulating data to make it look as though the agency was processing veterans' benefits claims faster than they actually were, according to a new report by the VA Office of Inspector General. The data manipulation happened last year, when there was heightened scrutiny nationwide over how long veterans were waiting to see doctors. (Bussewitz, 3/30)

DeWayne Hamlin, the top official of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Puerto Rico hospital, was absent from the hospital some 80 days in a one-year period, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner. Hamlin was paid $179,700 despite being absent from the hospital approximately one in three business days last year, according to "delegation of authority" documents by which he temporarily transferred his job responsibilities to deputies. (Rosiak, 3/30)