Starting in 1983, the Rev. Roland Freeman gave communion to the sick and last rites to the dying at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals around Denver.

In January, the chaplain died at age 85. Four months later, the V.A. turned his death into a budget cut.

After the agency reported the termination of his contract, the Department of Government Efficiency, President Trump’s cost-cutting group, posted it on its online “Wall of Receipts” used to celebrate reductions in wasteful or fraudulent spending. DOGE said the V.A. saved taxpayers $98,700 — the remaining four and a half years of Father Freeman’s contract.

The savings might be short-lived. The V.A. would not say whether it would replace him.

In recent weeks, as DOGE’s founder, Elon Musk, formally left Washington and the group’s power waned, the V.A. still sent in dozens of similarly dubious claims.

The veterans agency claimed credit for canceling contracts that had not been canceled, including those that provided veterans with prosthetic legs and wheelchairs. It also reported ending contracts for reasons unrelated to DOGE. They expired on schedule, or were cut off after a vendor shut down, or in Father Freeman’s case, died.

DOGE still posted those claims on its website, adding $6 million to V.A.’s savings.

Over the past six months, The New York Times has documented how that group’s Wall of Receipts, the only public accounting of DOGE’s work, has been plagued by errors.