PHOENIX - The new director of the troubled Phoenix Veterans Affairs Medical Center knew what she was in for.
"I think we're under a huge microscope," Deborah Amdur said Friday in her first comments since taking over four months ago as the hospital's first permanent director in two years.
"One thing that people here need to know about me: I have no tolerance for anything that is not transparent (or) for us doing anything that in any way negatively impacts veterans."
Amdur was already under fire Friday, on the second anniversary of a whistleblower's disclosure that long waits for appointments at the Phoenix VA resulted in the deaths of veterans.
The scandal made national headlines and exposed VA hospital across the country that were cooking the books to make wait times for appointments appear short.
This week, the VA Office of the Inspector general issued a report on flawed bookkeeping at Amdur's former hospital, the VA Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt.
"Wait-time data manipulation is going on all across the country," said Brendan Coleman a Phoenix VA whistleblower. "They all kind of got caught with their hand in the cookie jar."
Sen. John McCain sent Amdur a letter Friday with questions about what happened at Amdur's last stop and whether it could could happen again in Phoenix.
But the OIG report shows it was Amdur who sought an investigation of the Vermont hospital.
Amdur reported "that employees had come forward alleging inappropriate scheduling practices," the OIG report says.
The report concluded that patients were not harmed by the manipulation of wait-time data.
Here in Phoenix, Amdur said, new leadership and trainers have been installed to fix the scheduling mess documented by whistle-blowers.
"Are we doing everything 100 percent correctly in terms of scheduling practices? Not yet," she sai.d "I think we are on our way."
The scandal in Phoenix went beyond wait times, into the quality of patient care, the performance of ER staffers and the punishment of whistleblowers.
Former Phoenix VA Director Sharon Helman was fired two years ago. Last month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recommended the firing of three other top executives.
Amdur, a 61-year-old native of Boston, has worked for the VA for 25 years, including a posting in Washington, D.C., as director of national programs. Her job running the VA hospital in Vermont was her first assignment as a hospital director.
Amdur says she has a direct line to top VA officials in Washington, including Secretary Robert McDonald.
She recognizes the repair job at the Phoenix VA includes the employees, who've lost faith in a revolving door of leadership over the last decade. Several whistle-blowers received settlements after they were punished for speaking up.
"People need to see that when they bring issues forward, we will take action," Amdur said.