WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs has habitually exaggerated the record of its medical system, inflating its achievements in ways that make it appear more successful than it is, a McClatchy Newspapers study shows. While the VA’s health system has gotten very good marks for a transformation it’s undertaken over the past decade, the department also has a habit of overselling its progress in ways that assure Congress and others that the agency has enough resources to care for the nation’s soldiers. The assurances have come at a difficult time for the agency, as a surge in mental health ailments among returning veterans over the last few years has strained the system and a spate of high-profile problems with caring for veterans in the VA and the Department of Defense’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center has provoked heightened public scrutiny. A review by McClatchy of the quality measures the VA itself commonly cites found that: -The agency has touted how quickly veterans get in for appointments, but its own inspector general found that scheduling records have been manipulated repeatedly. -The VA boasted that its customer service ratings are 10 points higher than those of […]