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Supervisors at Veterans Affairs medical facilities told employees to falsify wait times in at least seven states, an investigation indicates.

Staff at 40 VA facilities in 19 states as well as Puerto Rico routinely "zeroed out" wait times for veterans, though wait times were often longer, a USA Today analysis found. This was allegedly done to create the impression the facilities were meeting their wait-time goals.

For some facilities, the policy had been carried out up to a decade.

The revelation comes less than two years after Phoenix VA Medical Center and others were found to have engaged in similar policies while veterans died waiting for care.

A facility in Vermont was found by investigators to have rampant improprieties, yet the director of the facility is now the director of the Phoenix VA Medical Center where the scandal was first uncovered.

Despite scrutiny from investigators, some facilities still allowed the manipulation of records to happen as the demand from Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans began to pile up.

The VA said it has disciplined 29 people, and three have left the agency. It has also retrained schedulers, updated its software, and began a pilot program that allows veterans to schedule their own appointments.

However, the problem continues, according to employees.

"Until the VA decides it truly wants to change its corrupt and poor culture, those who work on the front lines and possess the true knowledge relating to the VA's continued data manipulation will remain quiet and in hiding because of fear of workplace harassment and retaliation," said Shea Wilkes, a social worker at the VA Medical Center in Shreveport, La., and co-director of a group of more than 40 whistle-blowers.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2016/04/08/VA-bosses-falsified-wait-times-in-7-states/8251460088006/