Watchdog Criticizes Veterans Affairs’ Suicide Hotline

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ suicide crisis hotline is understaffed, poorly supervised and sometimes leaves veterans on hold so long that they simply hang up, according to an investigation released Monday.

The VA’s internal watchdog, the Office of Inspector General, tracked the performance of the phone hotline and found problems ranging from how wait times are measured to the supervision of contracts with third-party call centers.

Many of the problems already had been identified during a similar investigation more than a year ago, but were never properly addressed by the department, the report says.

Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal.