Atlanta VA improves response to mental health calls after whistleblowing complaint

Georgia’s advocates and fighters are scorned complex systems designed to help thousands of veterans with mental health treatment; they cited a shortage of VA doctors who can treat the state’s veterans, as well as frequent staff turnover.

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The whistleblower complaint focused on a breakdown in what is often referred to as the first line of support: mental health calls made directly to the Atlanta VA. The complaint says that during a 12-month period, approximately 7,200 of approximately 22,000 mental health calls made to the Atlanta VA Health Care System went unanswered. The VA’s Human Resources Department was slow to hire applicants who could answer calls, according to the complaint, and the Atlanta VA had about a third of the staff needed to answer calls.

Nearly 50% of mental health calls went unanswered in April 2023 alone, according to the Atlanta VA. The AJC also spoke with a veteran last year who said he called the Atlanta VA about 10 times when he was in a mental health crisis. Someone answered about half the time, he said.

Since then that trend has changed.

From January to October 2024, the Atlanta VA reported that it answered 96.5% of the 24,152 mental health calls it received. On average, someone at the VA answered the call within 26 seconds. As of April 2023, the average time to answer a call was 14 minutes and 51 seconds.

The system’s improvements are largely thanks to the health system’s new team of 10 special workers dedicated to answering mental health calls, according to the Atlanta VA. Now, health system officials say the operators are exceeding national standards for response times and calls answered. Standards aim for no more than 5% of calls to go unanswered before the caller hangs up and at least 80% of calls to be answered within 30 seconds, according to the Atlanta VA.

The Atlanta VA says it has also implemented a callback process. Now, abandoned calls with a known number will be returned quickly. More broadly, the Atlanta VA said its response rates for primary care and other calls have improved significantly thanks to additional call operators.

The VA Office of the Inspector General, which is responsible for investigating complaints, has not yet released an investigation. An agency spokesman said that as a general matter, the VA OIG “does not confirm or deny any ongoing investigations, reviews or investigations.”

But another agency, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, already sold a $10,000 settlement earlier this year to one public affairs officer at the Atlanta VA. The officer, Greg Kendall, said he was retaliated against for trying to release more information about the problem after an AJC story about a whistle-blowing complaint.

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“I think it’s safe to say that the leadership of the Atlanta VA is more concerned with attacking whistleblowers than taking care of mental health patients,” Kendall, the public affairs officer, said in a statement.

Kendall says it’s time for the public to know exactly what went wrong, and why the phone lines were allowed to be shut down for so long.

“How many other Atlanta Veterans have had the same experience? Who is responsible for this massive failure of veterans? he said in a statement. “That is why the VA Inspector General should release the results of his investigation into this matter as soon as possible.”

Those in immediate crisis should call 988, the national mental health hotline, and press 1. They can also chat online at. VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chator text 838255.