Whistleblowers and GAO describe systemic problems at Veterans Crisis Line; VA commits to changes

WASHINGTON — At a Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee oversight hearing, a whistleblower and a former Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) responder described management practices they say put veterans and responders at risk, and the Government Accountability Office released a report that found procedural and workload problems at the VCL and recommended corrective action.

Brad Combs, identified to the committee as a whistleblower and the VCL's former lead internal auditor, told senators the VCL has longstanding problems across four areas: callers with complex needs, quality assurance, electronic media management (chat and text), and failures to disclose sentinel events. "It starts from the top," Combs said, faulting leadership for fostering “a culture of permissiveness” that prioritized metrics over lives.

The hearing included testimony from Marcia Blaine, introduced as a former VCL responder and licensed professional counselor, who described pressure to prioritize throughput and said responders faced repeated abuse from some callers while the specialized team for callers with complex needs was understaffed or disbanded. "There is a staff of highly trained individuals who are often told this is not a clinical position, so don't use that skill set," Blaine said, adding that the termination of social scientist assistants increased delays and “made all of us more vulnerable to misses.”

A Government Accountability Office official, Alicia Hundrep, testified that the…