In the first confirmation that Department of Veterans Affairs administrators manipulated medical waiting lists at one and possibly more hospitals, the department’s inspector general reported on Wednesday that 1,700 patients at the veterans medical center in Phoenix were not placed on the official waiting list for doctors’ appointments and may never have received care. 
 
 The scathing report by Richard J. Griffin, the acting inspector general, validates allegations raised by whistle-blowers and others that Veterans Affairs officials in Phoenix employed artifices to cloak long waiting times for veterans seeking medical care. Mr. Griffin said the average waiting time in Phoenix for initial primary care appointments, 115 days, was nearly five times as long as what the hospital’s administrators had reported. 
 
 He suggested that the falsified data may have led to more favorable performance reviews for hospital personnel, and he indicated that some instances of potentially manipulated data had been turned over to the Justice Department. 
 
 Mr. Griffin said that similar kinds of manipulation to hide long and possibly growing waiting times were “systemic throughout” the sprawling Veterans Affairs health care system, with its 150 medical centers serving eight million veterans each year. The inspector general’s office is reviewing practices at 42 Veterans Affairs medical facilities. 
 
 Mr. Griffin’s report brought immediate political consequences. For the first time since the controversy erupted last month, several Senate Democrats, including Mark Udall of Colorado and John Walsh of Montana, demanded that the secretary of veterans affairs, Eric Shinseki, step down, joining Republican lawmakers who have been making that demand for weeks. 
 
 Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, a former naval aviator who was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War and is now an influential voice on veterans issues, also called on Wednesday for Mr. Shinseki to resign. Along with several other leading Republican lawmakers who had been withholding judgment, Mr. McCain asked the F.B.I. to investigate the Phoenix hospital. Mr. Griffin previously said that he was working with the Justice Department to examine whether criminal violations had occurred there. 
 
 Mr. Shinseki, in a statement, called the findings “reprehensible to me” and ordered the department to “immediately triage each of the 1,700 veterans” and give them timely care. The department suspended two senior officials at the Phoenix medical center shortly after the allegations of falsified waiting lists became public this month. 
 
 Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said President Obama found the report “extremely troubling,” but he did not indicate whether Mr. Shinseki had lost the confidence of the White House. 
 
 Mr. Griffin’s interim report — the final version is expected by August — did not address the most explosive allegations made about the Phoenix facility: that as many as 40 veterans who were never put on the official list for doctors’ appointments might have died while awaiting care. He said determinations could be made only after examining autopsy reports and other documents that were still being reviewed. He had previously said that after reviewing 17 of those cases, he had found no indication that any of those deaths were tied to delays. 
 
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 But the rest of his report was sweeping in its indictment of the Phoenix hospital, and contained sharp criticism of much of the rest of the veterans health care bureaucracy. 
 
 “While our work is not complete, we have substantiated that significant delays in access to care negatively impacted the quality of care at this medical facility,” Mr. Griffin said. 
 
 Irregularities in how the 1,700 veterans were handled, he added, mean that “these veterans may never obtain a requested or required clinical appointment.” 
 
 Investigators from the inspector general’s office reviewed a sample of 226 patients and found that they waited an average of 115 days for their first primary care appointment at the Phoenix medical center, but their average waiting time was reported to the national Veterans Affairs office as being only 24 days. 
 
 The interim report did not dwell on the motivations for falsely reporting waiting times, nor did it single out any employees or hospital administrators by name. 
 
 But it stated that a “direct consequence” of the inappropriate waiting lists was that the medical center’s leadership “significantly understated the time new patients waited for their primary care appointment” in its performance appraisal accomplishments for the 2013 fiscal year, which was a factor considered for bonuses and salary increases. 
 
 Mr. Griffin also suggested that his team may have already found some indication of criminal wrongdoing. “When sufficient credible evidence is identified supporting a potential violation of criminal and/or civil law, we have contacted and are coordinating our efforts with the Department of Justice,” he wrote. 
 
 He said in his report that his investigators had identified several types of improper scheduling practices in Phoenix. They found multiple waiting lists aside from the official electronic waiting list, and said that “these additional lists may be the basis for allegations of creating ‘secret’ wait lists” that have been cited by whistle-blowers. 
 
 The allegations identified by investigators were not limited to waiting lists. Mr. Griffin said his office had received “numerous allegations daily of mismanagement, inappropriate hiring decisions, sexual harassment, and bullying behavior by mid- and senior-level managers at this facility.” 
 
 Mr. Shinseki, a soft-spoken former four-star Army general and chief of staff, has had support on Capitol Hill from some lawmakers partly because of his long military career. 
 
 But the release of the inspector general’s report increased the pressure on him to step down, especially after some Senate Democrats broke with others in the party late in the day to demand his removal. 
 
 Mr. Walsh, the Montana senator, said that the report “confirms the worst of the allegations against the V.A.,” and that “it’s time to put the partisanship aside and focus on what’s right for our veterans.” 
 
 Representative Jeff Miller, the Florida Republican who is the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said the report “confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt what was becoming more obvious by the day: wait time schemes and data manipulation are systemic throughout V.A. and are putting veterans at risk in Phoenix and across the country.” 
 
 Mr. Miller had previously held off on calling for Mr. Shinseki’s resignation, but he did so on Wednesday, saying that the former general “appears completely oblivious to the severity of the health care challenges facing the department.” 
 
 Mr. McCain said on CNN that he had intended to wait to comment on Mr. Shinseki’s future until further hearings were held on the issue. But after hearing about the report, he decided to speak out. 
 
 “I think it’s reached that point,” he said. “This keeps piling up.” ||||| Story highlights A veterans group demands a criminal investigation of medical center practices 
 
 1,700 veterans will be contacted by the end of business Friday, a VA official says 
 
 VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is on ''thin ice'' with Obama, a White House official says 
 
 The scope widens, with 42 medical centers now under investigation 
 
 At least 1,700 military veterans waiting to see a doctor were never scheduled for an appointment and were never placed on a wait list at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Phoenix, raising the question of just how many may have been "forgotten or lost" in the system, according to a preliminary report made public Wednesday. 
 
 Describing a "systemic" practice of manipulating appointments and wait lists at the Phoenix Health Care System, the VA's Office of Inspector General called for a nationwide review to determine whether veterans at other locations were falling through the cracks. 
 
 It also appears to indicate the scope of the inquiry is rapidly widening, with 42 VA medical centers across the country now under investigation for possible abuse of scheduling practices, according to the report. 
 
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 Among the findings at the Phoenix VA, investigators determined one consequence of manipulating appointments for the veterans was understating patient wait times -- a factor considered for VA employee bonuses and raises, the report said. 
 
 The preliminary report sparked outrage from all corners, with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki calling the findings "reprehensible" and ordering the 1,700 veterans be immediately "triaged" for care, while some lawmakers called for the agency's chief to resign. 
 
 Shinseki has been on "probation" since President Barack Obama vowed last week to hold accountable those responsible for the delays, and he remains on "thin ice" with the President pending the outcome of the internal investigations, a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN. 
 
 The VA is under fire over allegations of alarming shortcomings at its medical facilities. The controversy, as CNN first reported, involves delayed care with potentially fatal consequences in possibly dozens of cases. 
 
 CNN has reported that in Phoenix, the VA used fraudulent record-keeping -- including an alleged secret list -- that covered up excessive waiting periods for veterans, some of whom died in the process. 
 
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 'Numerous allegations' 
 
 The big questions remain under investigation, according to the report: Did the facility's electronic wait list omit the names of veterans waiting for care and, if so, at who's direction? 
 
 And were the deaths of any of these veterans related to delays in care? 
 
 "To date our work has substantiated serious conditions at the Phoenix facility," said the report, which also found another 1,400 veterans were on the Phoenix VA's formal electronic wait list but did not have a doctor's appointment. 
 
 The report also found "numerous allegations" of "daily of mismanagement, inappropriate hiring decisions, sexual harassment, and bullying behavior by mid- and senior-level managers." 
 
 Calling the report's initial findings "damning," House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Florida, said "you can only imagine" what might come out once a fuller investigation is completed. 
 
 The investigation is expected to be completed later this summer, with a final report issued by the VA inspector general in August. 
 
 The report's findings prompted the American Legion to call for a criminal investigation. 
 
 "We want every VA employee who participated in these cover-ups to be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law ..." the veterans group said in a written statement. 
 
 The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the interim report, Peter Carr, a Justice Department spokesman, said. "We will continue to consult with the inspector general's office regarding their ongoing review," he said. 
 
 Calls for Shinseki's resignation 
 
 Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, told CNN it was "about time" the Justice Department launched its own investigation. 
 
 "I haven't said this before, but I think it's time for Gen. Shinseki to move on," McCain said. 
 
 There have been calls from other members of Congress for him to step down over the scandal, but McCain's voice on military matters carries enormous weight considering his experience as a combat veteran, a Vietnam prisoner of war, and his work in the Senate on related issues. 
 
 A number of Senate Democrats, all up for re-election this year, also called for Shinseki to leave his post. 
 
 Among them was Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado who took to Twitter with his message: "In light of IG report & systemic issues at @DeptVetAffairs, Sec. Shinseki must step down." 
 
 Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota said a change in leadership is needed. 
 
 "I believe it would be in the best interest of veterans for Secretary Shinseki to step down," he said. 
 
 Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said "fundamental problems plague the agency." 
 
 "It's time for a forceful new leader to address the outrageous problems at the VA," she said. 
 
 Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken told CNN that President Barack Obama has been briefed on the report, and found it "deeply troubling." 
 
 When pressed on whether Obama still supports Shinseki, Blinken said: "We're focused on making sure these veterans who've delivered for this country get the care they need." 
 
 IG: 'Take immediate action' 
 
 The VA has acknowledged 23 deaths nationwide due to delayed care. The VA's inspector general, Richard Griffin, told a Senate committee in recent weeks that his investigation so far had found a possible 17 deaths of veterans waiting for care in Phoenix, but he added that there was no evidence that excessive waiting was the reason. 
 
 Griffin recommended that Shinseki "take immediate action" to "review and provide appropriate health care" to the 1,700 veterans identified in Phoenix as not being on a wait list. 
 
 It also recommended that he initiate a nationwide review of waiting lists "to ensure that veterans are seen in an appropriate time, given their clinical condition." 
 
 The report came just hours before the start of a combative House committee hearing on the Phoenix VA issues, where Republican and Democratic leaders said they were dissatisfied with the VA's response to their panel's subpoena for documents on shortcomings related at the agency's Phoenix medical center. 
 
 "Veterans died. Give us the answers, please," Jeff Miller, a Florida Republican, told one of three senior VA officials called to testify. 
 
 The committee's senior Democrat, Michael Michaud of Maine, was equally sharp with the witnesses, who initially sparred with lawmakers over the agency's response for documents before answering questions about Phoenix. 
 
 "Let me be clear, I'm not happy. We do expect answers. We'll get to the bottom of this," Michaud said. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Lynch, the VA's assistant deputy under secretary for clinical operations, told the committee there are plans in place to contact the 1,700 veterans in Phoenix by the close of business on Friday to assess their needs and get them care. 
 
 Lynch, who said he agreed with the interim report's findings, believes that overarching agency goals for reducing wait times for care are flawed. 
 
 "What's happened is unacceptable," he said.
– At least 1,700 veterans awaiting treatment from the Department of Veteran Affairs' now-infamous Phoenix medical center were kept off of any official waiting list, putting them "at risk of being forgotten or lost," according to a damning initial report from the department's inspector general. What's more, the patients the IG surveyed waited an average 115 days for a first primary care appointment—a far cry from the 24 days the center reported to the VA, the New York Times reports. The investigation also found "numerous allegations" of "mismanagement, inappropriate hiring decisions, sexual harassment, and bullying behavior by mid- and senior-level managers." The report doesn't touch on allegations that as many as 40 deaths were tied to waiting list shenanigans. On CNN, John McCain responded to the report by calling on the Justice Department to launch its own probe. "I haven't said this before, but I think it's time for General Shinseki to move on," he added. (The Army fired the head of the Womack medical facility after the deaths of two patients in their 20s.)