With a congresswoman out for his head and a U.S. senator calling for an investigation, the new director of the Hawaii VA vowed Monday to stay on the job and, within three months, dramatically reduce the time it takes military veterans to see their doctors.

Hawaii’s 145-day delay for an incoming VA patient to get an initial appointment with a primary care physician is by far the worst in the entire system, according to a nationwide audit released earlier this month.

But Wayne Pfeffer, who has been director of the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System for nine months, said Monday that changes are already underway that he hopes will cut the wait time to just 30 days within three months.

It’s been a bumpy two weeks for Pfeffer following a 40-year VA career that’s taken him through 11 medical centers.

Before coming to Hawaii, Pfeffer was director of the VA Medical Center in Louisville, Ky. But Pfeffer welcomed the chance to rectify years of problems at the Hawaii VA and repair its tattered image.

"I was told this was a really big challenge," Pfeffer said, "but I’ve devoted my career to helping veterans."

So, at the age of 62, improving the Hawaii VA represented the "capstone" of his career, Pfeffer said.

Just this year the VA’s five full-time and several part-time doctors — who add up to the full-time equivalent of seven doctors — have increased their patient loads to 1,300 patients per doctor from 1,200, which allows them to see more incoming patients, Pfeffer said.

Chris Flanders, executive director of the Hawaii Medical Association, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the VA’s new, increased doctor-patient ratio is actually low.

"That’s not unusual," Flanders said. "Some facilities have up to 2,000 patients per physician — where 20 to 25 patients per day is not uncommon."

The Hawaii VA also has increased weekend and late hours to accommodate even more patients and cut down on appointment delays, Pfeffer said.

At the same time, Pfeffer is also trying to repair his bumpy relationship with Hawaii’s congressional delegation following a June 5 briefing he gave to congressional staff members.

Lawmakers say their staffs were misled by Pfeffer to believe the VA’s wait time was somewhere between 30 and 50 days — not the 145 that the audit revealed just four days later.

In the aftermath U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard asked the acting secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire Pfeffer "due to his dishonesty, lack of integrity, incompetence and his flagrant lack of transparency."

And U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz has asked the VA’s acting inspector general to investigate allegations that VA staff members in Hawaii were ordered to "cook the books" regarding patients’ appointments and that the chief administrator "asked staff to wipe their computers clean regarding patient wait times."

Pfeffer, who has yet to be contacted by the inspector general’s office, said he welcomes an investigation because, he said, "I believe I set very high integrity standards."

He also called on VA staff members to report any malfeasance — or merely suggest ways to improve even the simplest operations around them.

"I’ll do fine through this," he said, "because I think I’m doing the right thing."

Pfeffer said he was misunderstood at the congressional briefing because he meant to say that 30 days referred to his goal for new patient wait times, not the reality.

Before the briefing, Pfeffer already had been told by VA officials that the real number "was going to be high," adding, "but I didn’t know how high."

Schatz responded in a statement Monday to Pfeffer’s vow to stay and cut wait times: "We need to reduce the wait times veterans are facing and work together to do it quickly. This would be a marked improvement, but I want to see real steps from the VA and accountability to ensure this goal is a reality and veterans get their appointments in time."

Gabbard and U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono did not respond to requests for comment after hours in Washington.

But Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who was in Honolulu, said she wants Pfeffer to live up to his goal of dramatically reducing patient wait times.

"If he’s willing to put himself on the line to improve it within three months, we should give him the chance," Hanabusa said. "He set this goal. Now we’ll hold him accountable for it. It’s now a very transparent system because we’re all waiting. There is a value to having somebody who knows the system try to fix it."