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This publication contains all of the Denver, Colorado and Golden, Colorado VA's secret wait lists for mental health care that were exposed by a whistle blower in 2016 I found these lists in three Microsoft Excel spread sheets on or around August 31, 2016. The first spread sheet was in use at the Denver, Colorado PTSD Clinical Team (PCT). As a member of the PCT, I worked with the sheet, titled at the time zPCT Therapy Interest List, to schedule veterans into our upcoming treatment groups. At the time, I did not realize that the excel waitlist was prohibited by VA policy and by federal statute.2. I did realize that we never referred veterans to the Veterans Choice program. I quickly understood that what we were doing was prohibited by federal law and by VA rules, and I realized that we were deliberately breaking VA policy when I did a quick Google search and read the Veterans Choice Act and VHA Directive 1230. The head of our clinic and the head of all outpatient mental health was using the same prohibited spread sheet that I was, but instead of scheduling veterans for care, these supervisors were using the spread sheet to judge wait times and to avoid others seeing these wait times. So I confided in a colleague. This colleague informed me that their clinic also used a spread sheet, but that the use of the spread sheet was approved and not prohibited at all. We were not hiding the spread sheet, according to my colleague, so the act of using the spread sheet was perfectly fine. I went to my computer and searched for the term interest list-the former title of the PCT's now-renamed referral list, and I immediately found the Denver Mental Health Clinic's interest list for services and I found the Golden, Colorado mental health clinic's interest list for services. It was obvious to me that these were both waitlists for services. I requested that our medical support assistant (MSA) check two names, one from each interest list, to see if the veterans in the spread sheets were in our official, approved electronic wait list. The MSA reported that these names were not on the electronic waitlist. Since then, I have forwarded these lists to myself, to my chain of command, and to Congress. My computer access on all VA computers was immediately revoked, and I was removed from my work area. I have not been able to log into a VA computer since then. 2 See Appendix A, VHA DIRECTIVE 1230 I attempted to initiate an investigation with the VA's inspector general (IG), but I have been told that the IG had never received my submittal. As I am locked out of all VA computers, I am unable to send the wait lists to the IG. The IG has contacted me, though, as the Congress has initiated an investigation with the IG. Senator Ron Johnson and his staff have been an invaluable ally the entire time, pushing back against VA attempts to punish me for being a whistle blower and for talking to Congress. If it were not for Senator Johnson and his staff, I believe that the VA would have fired me as soon as possible and covered this prohibited use of waitlists up. If I had not removed the waitlists from VA networks and sent them to Congress, VA would probably still be using the same document to deny veterans access to mental health care today.

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