Veterans Affairs records reportedly indicate that numerous patients who needed a primary care physician at the VA medical center in Albuquerque instead were assigned to a medical supervisor who didn't treat patients.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, the patients were assigned to the supervisor until they could be assigned to a physician. In the meantime, it appeared that the veterans had a doctor,
According to the Journal, patients with urgent needs were sent to a walk-in clinic, emergency room or squeezed into the schedule of a physician.
The Journal reports that staffers were told last fall that the assignments were a way to manage an influx of patients.
The nation's health care system for veterans is under scrutiny in the wake of revelations about long waits and other problems.
Information from Albuquerque Journal.
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