Veterans face consecutive budget cuts (1 Viewer)

[timschochet]

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/va-hospital-scandal/whistleblower-says-va-hospital-covered-problems-delayed-care-n100851

Sally Eliano lost her father-in-law Thomas Breen to cancer last November, and she blames his death on the Veteran Affairs hospital in Phoenix.

Eliano told NBC News when Breen went to the hospital for urgent care, the staff refused to treat him and told him to see his primary VA doctor.


He waited months, but died before he could get an appointment.

"All the people who were part of this, they should be held accountable because it is a crime. You know delayed care is denied care and it's just not fair," Eliano said.

Breen is one of up to 40 patients who died at the Phoenix hospital, allegedly due to delays in care.

The VA has become notorious for its long delays and backlog.

Several hospital whistleblowers claim that in an effort to improve their performance record, administrators ordered thousands of appointment requests be diverted to a secret unofficial list not to be reported. If the patients died, their names would disappear.


Dr. Samuel Foote, who spent decades working for the VA, was the first to allege that in an effort to improve their record, hospital officials kept a secret unofficial list of veterans who sought medical care.

"This was basically an elaborate scheme to cover up patient wait times," Foote told NBC News. "The main problem was we had a huge demand, and we had a relatively limited supply of service."

Foote added, "Rather than dealing with the problem, they were just covering it up."

A House committee voted Thursday to subpoena records relating to the alleged waiting list at the Phoenix hospital after the VA refused to provide them voluntarily.

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki is set to testify next week in a hearing before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee regarding the state of the VA health care system.


On Wednesday, Shinseki told NBC News the department was working to ensure that nothing like what allegedly took place in Phoenix happens again.

 

[timschochet]

I dunno, NC, based on that article, which came out today, there was a cover-up and a pretty major one at that.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

I dunno, NC, based on that article, which came out today, there was a cover-up and a pretty major one at that.

I duuno, Tim, based on that article it seems like those issues may have been specific to operating locations and HQVA had no idea. Again, we are talking about a system that was completely broken prior to OIF and OEF. Instead of getting rid of Shinseki, they need to sweep the system of high level administers who have been there since the 80s. They simply don't get it.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

I dunno, NC, based on that article, which came out today, there was a cover-up and a pretty major one at that.

I duuno, Tim, based on that article it seems like those issues may have been specific to operating locations and HQVA had no idea. Again, we are talking about a system that was completely broken prior to OIF and OEF. Instead of getting rid of Shinseki, they need to sweep the system of high level administers who have been there since the 80s. They simply don't get it.

And this is exactly what Congress is giving Shinseki. They are going to eliminate a ton of bureaucratic morons who have been failing in their jobs for decades. Govt employees get a bad rap sometimes, and in this case, it is more than justified. You have a bunch of Senior Executive Service types who are coasting and costing our veterans much more than just long wait times.

I was not impressed with Shinseki's testimony though, came off as a bit hollow.

 

[The Commish]

I dunno, NC, based on that article, which came out today, there was a cover-up and a pretty major one at that.

I duuno, Tim, based on that article it seems like those issues may have been specific to operating locations and HQVA had no idea. Again, we are talking about a system that was completely broken prior to OIF and OEF. Instead of getting rid of Shinseki, they need to sweep the system of high level administers who have been there since the 80s. They simply don't get it.

And this is exactly what Congress is giving Shinseki. They are going to eliminate a ton of bureaucratic morons who have been failing in their jobs for decades. Govt employees get a bad rap sometimes, and in this case, it is more than justified. You have a bunch of Senior Executive Service types who are coasting and costing our veterans much more than just long wait times.

I was not impressed with Shinseki's testimony though, came off as a bit hollow.

Hopefully this includes the bureaucratic morons in Congress who allowed them to stay around this long.

 

[NCCommish]

I dunno, NC, based on that article, which came out today, there was a cover-up and a pretty major one at that.

I duuno, Tim, based on that article it seems like those issues may have been specific to operating locations and HQVA had no idea. Again, we are talking about a system that was completely broken prior to OIF and OEF. Instead of getting rid of Shinseki, they need to sweep the system of high level administers who have been there since the 80s. They simply don't get it.

Yep

 

[humpback]

Shinseki resigns

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Gotta love the hard-hitting journalists that Obama has taken on over his presidential career, Ellen, Oprah, Kelly Ripa.

Today it was Pres. Obama rolling out his concussion initiative. But oddly enough it turns out that Michael Strahan's dad was/is a vet and he asked him what the hell was going on.

This whole performance in the face of serious inquiries has been plain awful.

 

[jonessed]

Shinseki resigns

He always seemed rather oblivious to how bad things had become. After six years that really shouldn't have been the case. Hopefully they bring in someone with the ability to clean house.

 

[NCCommish]

Shinseki resigns

He always seemed rather oblivious to how bad things had become. After six years that really shouldn't have been the case. Hopefully they bring in someone with the ability to clean house.

Hopefully Congress actually does something compared to what they have done up to now. You know launching wars and cutting VA funding. Shinseki wasn't the problem. His resignation solves nothing.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Shinseki resigns

He always seemed rather oblivious to how bad things had become. After six years that really shouldn't have been the case. Hopefully they bring in someone with the ability to clean house.

Hopefully Congress actually does something compared to what they have done up to now. You know launching wars and cutting VA funding. Shinseki wasn't the problem. His resignation solves nothing.

Is there any clarity on this? I was listening to CNN (Anderson Cooper) and they were reporting that the VA had enough funding and that they also had legislative permission to send patients to private treatment. True? False?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

(CNN) -- As politicians, pundits and the American people are focused on the escalating national crisis at the Department of Veterans Affairs, one excuse for the VA's woes keeps surfacing. Money.

The VA, some say, needs more money to do its job and care for veterans properly. But looking at the facts, that math just does not add up.

Since 2009, Congress has given Secretary Eric Shinseki every penny he has said he needed to fund the VA fully, resulting in an astonishing 50% increase in the agency's overall budget at a time when budgets everywhere else across the federal government have been squeezed, strained and slashed. Congress even exempted the VA from sequestration, a win that not even the Pentagon managed to score while still engaged in a war overseas.

Congress also agreed to take the extraordinary step of giving the VA the annual funding it needs to cover veterans' health care a year in advance so that the agency's hospitals and clinics never run out of money. It is the reason the VA's health care system continued to operate without interruption during last fall's government shutdown, even as parks, federal buildings and congressional offices were forced to close or curtail operations for weeks.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate, with the strong support of virtually all veteran and military service organizations, has pushed for years to give the VA the rest of its budget a year in advance, too, but the secretary and the Obama administration thus far have refused to endorse publicly the wisdom of protecting the entire VA budget with an advance appropriation.


Our gut reaction to contemporary social and bureaucratic challenges may be to throw more money at the problem or to blame Congress, but this is one situation in which such simple excuses fall far short. A lack of resources within the VA is not to blame for the failures of that department, and even if it were, the responsibility for that underfunding would lay solely at the feet of the secretary due to his inadequate budget requests, not with Congress.
Far from being underfunded, the VA is facing woes that are clearly due to a failure of planning and leadership. The VA knew or should have known that demand for its services would swell as more troops survived the wars with more severe and chronic injuries, especially mental injuries. And with troop surges and drawdowns debated and planned well in advance, corresponding future demands on the VA system could -- and should -- have been anticipated.

Since reports first emerged of veteran deaths during long waits and alleged mismanagement in Phoenix, there continues to be a profound and worrisome lack of thoughtful and proactive leadership coming out of the VA. Instead, the VA has been addressing problems in a predictable manner, first denying their existence, then downplaying the scale, then hunkering down in crisis mode and finally -- and belatedly -- coming forward with a tepid and weak public response.

The passive, insular and arms-length management style has proven ill-suited for staying ahead of the pervasive problems of the nation's second-largest bureaucracy. But more importantly, the fear is that such detached leadership from the top may have caused the VA's bureaucratic and administrative pathologies to metastasize.

Our nation made a promise to the men and women who served this nation. Tragically, the VA is falling short of this fulfilling this promise. This time, however, we cannot simply spend our way out of accountability and responsibility.

Hagel: 'It makes me sick to my stomach'

Alex Nicholson is legislative director at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/26/opinion/nicholson-va-money/index.html

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Shinseki resigns

He always seemed rather oblivious to how bad things had become. After six years that really shouldn't have been the case. Hopefully they bring in someone with the ability to clean house.

Hopefully Congress actually does something compared to what they have done up to now. You know launching wars and cutting VA funding. Shinseki wasn't the problem. His resignation solves nothing.

Shinseki didn't have the ability to fire Cold War era bureaucrats that have plagued the VA...well...since the Cold War. The VA has come a long way in the past decade, but still is obviously littered with problems. As a federal employee I wish my employer had the ability to terminate my employment if I was inept and destructive. But it takes time, patience, documentation, and a lot of confrontation. HR, equal opportunity, agency regulations have to be followed to the tee or you'll end up having to keep the employee which makes things worse.

I'm taking over a unit at the Department of Justice that has a lot of issues, and they want me to do the dirty work for them. I'm happy to, making government better for the taxpayer is what I'm all about. I'll do all the paperwork, the confronting and the HR shuffle. I'd much rather do this at the VA and I think I might seek opportunities there down the road since it appeals to my background and strengths. Too many old Baby Boomers controlling the puppet strings, it's time for them to move on.

I think it's a shame Shinseki stepped down, he has done a ton of good for maybe the most broken U.S. government agency. They need to bring in someone with an iron fist now, but the Obama Administration prefers the passive aggressive types so who knows what the VA will get.

 

[MaxThreshold]

Shinseki resigns

He always seemed rather oblivious to how bad things had become. After six years that really shouldn't have been the case. Hopefully they bring in someone with the ability to clean house.

Hopefully Congress actually does something compared to what they have done up to now. You know launching wars and cutting VA funding. Shinseki wasn't the problem. His resignation solves nothing.

Shinseki didn't have the ability to fire Cold War era bureaucrats that have plagued the VA...well...since the Cold War. The VA has come a long way in the past decade, but still is obviously littered with problems. As a federal employee I wish my employer had the ability to terminate my employment if I was inept and destructive. But it takes time, patience, documentation, and a lot of confrontation. HR, equal opportunity, agency regulations have to be followed to the tee or you'll end up having to keep the employee which makes things worse.

I'm taking over a unit at the Department of Justice that has a lot of issues, and they want me to do the dirty work for them. I'm happy to, making government better for the taxpayer is what I'm all about. I'll do all the paperwork, the confronting and the HR shuffle. I'd much rather do this at the VA and I think I might seek opportunities there down the road since it appeals to my background and strengths. Too many old Baby Boomers controlling the puppet strings, it's time for them to move on.

I think it's a shame Shinseki stepped down, he has done a ton of good for maybe the most broken U.S. government agency. They need to bring in someone with an iron fist now, but the Obama Administration prefers the passive aggressive types so who knows what the VA will get.

Heck, it sounds like YOU'RE the man for the job. I'm expecting BIG things out of you, DD. Don't disappoint me and 'Merica!

 

[jonessed]

Shinseki resigns

He always seemed rather oblivious to how bad things had become. After six years that really shouldn't have been the case. Hopefully they bring in someone with the ability to clean house.

Hopefully Congress actually does something compared to what they have done up to now. You know launching wars and cutting VA funding. Shinseki wasn't the problem. His resignation solves nothing.

I don't see what more money has to do with his lack of knowledge around the situation. If structural reform was needed he had the opportunity to present that case well before now. If he needed more power to fire bureaucrats he should have fought for it earlier.Not everybody is cut out to do the dirty work required to reform an institution. It's not easy. Shinseki seemed like a nice guy and maybe even a good administrator, but presented with the situation he looked over his head. He clearly trusted people he shouldn't have.

A change was required to reset the status quo. Shinseki had lost credibility, whether it was his fault or not is largely irrelevant. It would have been difficult for him to push reform and do the required clean-up after all of his support evaporated (which initially included politicians from both parties as well as most veterans organizations).

 

[Todd Andrews]

Culture of coverups at VA.

 

[Ilov80s]

We already give everyone a day off and throw some parades for them, what more do veterans want? We stand during the pledge of allegiance and dedicate sporting events to them? Isn't pomp and circumstance enough?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Culture of coverups at VA.

“In the military, if you say, ‘Do something,’ it’s done,” said Mitchell, who has spent 16 years at the VA. “I suspect that he wasn’t aware that in VA, it’s not like that. If you say, ‘Do something,’ it’s covered up. It’s fixed by covering it up.”

Now, VA’s leaders have been faced with a startling failure. The bureaucracy below them wasn’t telling them the truth about wait times. The numbers system they set up to go around the bureaucracy wasn’t, either.

...
Shinseki didn't have the ability to fire Cold War era bureaucrats that have plagued the VA...well...since the Cold War. The VA has come a long way in the past decade, but still is obviously littered with problems. As a federal employee I wish my employer had the ability to terminate my employment if I was inept and destructive. But it takes time, patience, documentation, and a lot of confrontation. HR, equal opportunity, agency regulations have to be followed to the tee or you'll end up having to keep the employee which makes things worse.

I'm taking over a unit at the Department of Justice that has a lot of issues, and they want me to do the dirty work for them. I'm happy to, making government better for the taxpayer is what I'm all about. I'll do all the paperwork, the confronting and the HR shuffle. I'd much rather do this at the VA and I think I might seek opportunities there down the road since it appeals to my background and strengths. Too many old Baby Boomers controlling the puppet strings, it's time for them to move on.

I think it's a shame Shinseki stepped down, he has done a ton of good for maybe the most broken U.S. government agency. They need to bring in someone with an iron fist now, but the Obama Administration prefers the passive aggressive types so who knows what the VA will get.

Great article.

And I'm not convinced the VA is the only agency/department where this happens, I'm guessing it happens a lot in other agencies, but in this agency it results in suffering and death for our most worthy.

This is Pres. Obama's 2008 campaign platform which included several, laudable goals, and his speeches on the issue were multitudinous and extremely specific about fixing what was wrong in the Bush administration on this score:

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2008/09/08/obama-biden-2008-plan-for-veterans/

But apparently according to the article things have gotten worse.

We all know that this was going on before Pres. Obama, the article points out the 2005 audit. What I would like to know is if anyone thinks this president will actually do something real about this?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Michael Strahan (DE NYG), "as the son of a retired military major," confronts President Obama on this issue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9VtphDaiWQ

This was a weak response. The same day that Shinseki resigns, Pres. Obama states, "he is going to report back to me about what he's seen." No he was not, he was quitting, possibly in protest for being laid out. I agree, I doubt he did anything wrong in management, but at some point a guy in charge needs support to do what he needs to do.

 

[Ketamine Dreams]

This scandal should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the VA system. They have had massive problems with a bloated, inefficient, bureaucratic monstrosity. Over 10 years ago when I was in residency it was a farce. 2+ year waits for screening colonoscopies. Cardiac catherizations done on patients but no stents could be placed because the facility did not have cardiac bypass capabilities. If bypass was needed, the patient was sent to the VA in Minneapolis - a > 6 hour drive away. Resident physicians would rebook established patients in their first available clinic spot to avoid having to see too many new and time-consuming patients. And on and on.

The problems with the VA system are certainly not new. Some places do well because the people who work there care about vets and do the job, even if they do way more than expected. The problem is exacerbated in places where there are a large number of vets and a larger percentage of people at that VA hospital who don't care, or who just do what is necessary to get by.

 

[Todd Andrews]

This scandal should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the VA system. They have had massive problems with a bloated, inefficient, bureaucratic monstrosity. Over 10 years ago when I was in residency it was a farce. 2+ year waits for screening colonoscopies. Cardiac catherizations done on patients but no stents could be placed because the facility did not have cardiac bypass capabilities. If bypass was needed, the patient was sent to the VA in Minneapolis - a > 6 hour drive away. Resident physicians would rebook established patients in their first available clinic spot to avoid having to see too many new and time-consuming patients. And on and on.

The problems with the VA system are certainly not new. Some places do well because the people who work there care about vets and do the job, even if they do way more than expected. The problem is exacerbated in places where there are a large number of vets and a larger percentage of people at that VA hospital who don't care, or who just do what is necessary to get by.

Well, to be fair, funding has increased significantly (33% I think) in the last five years but it still isnt nearly enough given the MASSIVE influx of claims over the last ten years and the antiquated systems they are using (something like half of all claims are still processed on paper!!??!). And Congress made the VA have to address a ton of new claims in mid-2000s when they ordered the VA to accept non-service related claims. In the mid-90's the mid-level bureaucracy was streamlined but regrew in the 2000s with our two wars, and the computer systems are still a joke. Congress has oversight and gets an "F" although there is a ton of blame to go around.

 

[Ketamine Dreams]

Just getting credentialed to work in a VA hospital is an enormous, time-consuming headache. I had staff MD privileges at our VA to help cover for vacations, sick leave etc. The process to just renew my privileges the following year was a massive undertaking and wasn't worth my time. It involved multiple paper forms, an excessive amount of time to complete, and required an online registration with additional forms and background checks on par with a high security military job.

It's a system so burdened by forms, paperwork, bureaucracy, requirements and incompetent people that I'm surprised it gets anything done. I would never let people I care about rely on the VA for their healthcare. My dad gets his medications from them because they are so cheap, but I made him keep seeing his regular physician.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

This scandal should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the VA system. They have had massive problems with a bloated, inefficient, bureaucratic monstrosity. Over 10 years ago when I was in residency it was a farce. 2+ year waits for screening colonoscopies. Cardiac catherizations done on patients but no stents could be placed because the facility did not have cardiac bypass capabilities. If bypass was needed, the patient was sent to the VA in Minneapolis - a > 6 hour drive away. Resident physicians would rebook established patients in their first available clinic spot to avoid having to see too many new and time-consuming patients. And on and on.

The problems with the VA system are certainly not new. Some places do well because the people who work there care about vets and do the job, even if they do way more than expected. The problem is exacerbated in places where there are a large number of vets and a larger percentage of people at that VA hospital who don't care, or who just do what is necessary to get by.

Well, to be fair, funding has increased significantly (33% I think) in the last five years but it still isnt nearly enough given the MASSIVE influx of claims over the last ten years and the antiquated systems they are using (something like half of all claims are still processed on paper!!??!). And Congress made the VA have to address a ton of new claims in mid-2000s when they ordered the VA to accept non-service related claims. In the mid-90's the mid-level bureaucracy was streamlined but regrew in the 2000s with our two wars, and the computer systems are still a joke. Congress has oversight and gets an "F" although there is a ton of blame to go around.

From the CNN piece above:

Since 2009, Congress has given Secretary Eric Shinseki every penny he has said he needed to fund the VA fully, resulting in an astonishing 50% increase in the agency's overall budget at a time when budgets everywhere else across the federal government have been squeezed, strained and slashed. Congress even exempted the VA from sequestration, a win that not even the Pentagon managed to score while still engaged in a war overseas.

Congress also agreed to take the extraordinary step of giving the VA the annual funding it needs to cover veterans' health care a year in advance so that the agency's hospitals and clinics never run out of money. It is the reason the VA's health care system continued to operate without interruption during last fall's government shutdown, even as parks, federal buildings and congressional offices were forced to close or curtail operations for weeks.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate, with the strong support of virtually all veteran and military service organizations, has pushed for years to give the VA the rest of its budget a year in advance, too, but the secretary and the Obama administration thus far have refused to endorse publicly the wisdom of protecting the entire VA budget with an advance appropriation.

...

I think the points by DD and this one in the article you posted are more to the point:

Congress has made the VA almost impossible to manage by restricting the agency’s ability to fire, discipline and transfer its employees. This problem, of course, is not unique to the VA. Congress has ordained a system of “merit protection” that, in effect, confers lifetime tenure on many federal employees, however incompetent. To fire or seriously discipline them, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki and his staff would have to invest immense time and effort. This helps explain why the VA’s malpractice costs are so high, why the federal government’s employee discharge rate is only about one-eighth the private-sector rate and why Shinseki has not fired even the senior VA officials responsible for so much documented, life-endangering negligence. A bill that would make it easier for him to do so recently passed the House and has bipartisan support in the Senate — but even if enacted, this reform would be too late for the victims of the VA’s incompetence.

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would give the Department of Veterans Affairs greater authority to fire or demote senior executives for perceived performance problems.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has made clear that he doesn’t think the measure is necessary to hold officials properly accountable, but it allows lawmakers to go on the record supporting strong consequences for managers who oversee troubled programs within the embattled agency.

The House voted 390-33 in favor of the bill, which was sponsored by House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.). Republicans voted unanimously for the legislation, while all but 33 Democrats supported it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/05/21/house-passes-va-firing-bill/

Anyone see a push by Pres. Obama to make it easier to fire, discipline and transfer federal employees???

Because it sounds like that is what is necessary.

 

[fatness]

Culture of coverups at VA.

Good article, very much worth reading, thank you.

Until recently, the VA had been seen as a Washington success story. In the 1990s, reformers had cut back on its middle management and started using performance data so managers at the top could keep abreast of problems at the bottom.

Then that success began to unravel.

As the VA’s caseload increased during two wars, the agency grew thick around the middle again. And then, when the people at the bottom started sending in fiction, the people at the top took it as fact.

This is how the system was failing: As the VA’s patient load grew, new layers of middle management slowly reappeared. And all the way at the bottom of the VA’s 12-level chain of command were the schedulers — the ones who actually had to match veterans with doctors.

There were too many of the veterans. There were too few of the doctors. So what should they do?

One choice was to tell the truth — tell the computer how long veterans were actually waiting for an appointment. That was what Shinseki said he wanted, 12 levels up and miles away in Washington.

But, according to people with experience in scheduling, it was often the opposite of what lower-level bureaucrats wanted. In some cases, local officials’ bonuses depended on the numbers looking good. So, at some point years ago, they began asking clerks to change the numbers — with practices like “zeroing it out.” Cheating was made easier by the VA’s ancient computer systems, designed decades ago.

This following quote kind of summarizes the whole terrible disconnect.

“They would say, ‘Change the “desired date” to the date of the appointment,’ ” said one employee knowledgeable about scheduling practices at a VA medical center. The employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, decided to go along with those requests. Fighting the order to lie wasn’t worth it.

“You know, in the end, the veteran got the appointment that was available anyway,” the employee said. “It didn’t affect the veteran’s care.”

Completely blind to the fact that disguising the real wait time for veterans today was guaranteeing longer wait times for veterans in the future.

 

[Premier]

This scandal should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the VA system. They have had massive problems with a bloated, inefficient, bureaucratic monstrosity. Over 10 years ago when I was in residency it was a farce. 2+ year waits for screening colonoscopies. Cardiac catherizations done on patients but no stents could be placed because the facility did not have cardiac bypass capabilities. If bypass was needed, the patient was sent to the VA in Minneapolis - a > 6 hour drive away. Resident physicians would rebook established patients in their first available clinic spot to avoid having to see too many new and time-consuming patients. And on and on.

The problems with the VA system are certainly not new. Some places do well because the people who work there care about vets and do the job, even if they do way more than expected. The problem is exacerbated in places where there are a large number of vets and a larger percentage of people at that VA hospital who don't care, or who just do what is necessary to get by.

Well, to be fair, funding has increased significantly (33% I think) in the last five years but it still isnt nearly enough given the MASSIVE influx of claims over the last ten years and the antiquated systems they are using (something like half of all claims are still processed on paper!!??!). And Congress made the VA have to address a ton of new claims in mid-2000s when they ordered the VA to accept non-service related claims. In the mid-90's the mid-level bureaucracy was streamlined but regrew in the 2000s with our two wars, and the computer systems are still a joke. Congress has oversight and gets an "F" although there is a ton of blame to go around.

Absolutely none of the compensation claims are processed on paper. Actually all new claims are processed paperless.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

We already give everyone a day off and throw some parades for them, what more do veterans want? We stand during the pledge of allegiance and dedicate sporting events to them?

Actually, it is increasingly common for sporting events to be dedicated more to rookies these days.

 

[Todd Andrews]

This scandal should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the VA system. They have had massive problems with a bloated, inefficient, bureaucratic monstrosity. Over 10 years ago when I was in residency it was a farce. 2+ year waits for screening colonoscopies. Cardiac catherizations done on patients but no stents could be placed because the facility did not have cardiac bypass capabilities. If bypass was needed, the patient was sent to the VA in Minneapolis - a > 6 hour drive away. Resident physicians would rebook established patients in their first available clinic spot to avoid having to see too many new and time-consuming patients. And on and on.

The problems with the VA system are certainly not new. Some places do well because the people who work there care about vets and do the job, even if they do way more than expected. The problem is exacerbated in places where there are a large number of vets and a larger percentage of people at that VA hospital who don't care, or who just do what is necessary to get by.

Well, to be fair, funding has increased significantly (33% I think) in the last five years but it still isnt nearly enough given the MASSIVE influx of claims over the last ten years and the antiquated systems they are using (something like half of all claims are still processed on paper!!??!). And Congress made the VA have to address a ton of new claims in mid-2000s when they ordered the VA to accept non-service related claims. In the mid-90's the mid-level bureaucracy was streamlined but regrew in the 2000s with our two wars, and the computer systems are still a joke. Congress has oversight and gets an "F" although there is a ton of blame to go around.

Absolutely none of the compensation claims are processed on paper. Actually all new claims are processed paperless.

You are correct: I misread that. 40% of the claims FILES (not the initial claims themselves) are still paper.

 

[Premier]

This scandal should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the VA system. They have had massive problems with a bloated, inefficient, bureaucratic monstrosity. Over 10 years ago when I was in residency it was a farce. 2+ year waits for screening colonoscopies. Cardiac catherizations done on patients but no stents could be placed because the facility did not have cardiac bypass capabilities. If bypass was needed, the patient was sent to the VA in Minneapolis - a > 6 hour drive away. Resident physicians would rebook established patients in their first available clinic spot to avoid having to see too many new and time-consuming patients. And on and on.

The problems with the VA system are certainly not new. Some places do well because the people who work there care about vets and do the job, even if they do way more than expected. The problem is exacerbated in places where there are a large number of vets and a larger percentage of people at that VA hospital who don't care, or who just do what is necessary to get by.

Well, to be fair, funding has increased significantly (33% I think) in the last five years but it still isnt nearly enough given the MASSIVE influx of claims over the last ten years and the antiquated systems they are using (something like half of all claims are still processed on paper!!??!). And Congress made the VA have to address a ton of new claims in mid-2000s when they ordered the VA to accept non-service related claims. In the mid-90's the mid-level bureaucracy was streamlined but regrew in the 2000s with our two wars, and the computer systems are still a joke. Congress has oversight and gets an "F" although there is a ton of blame to go around.

Absolutely none of the compensation claims are processed on paper. Actually all new claims are processed paperless.

You are correct: I misread that. 40% of the claims FILES (not the initial claims themselves) are still paper.

As soon as those claims are completed (likely in the next 9 months) there will not be any paper claims files left.Edit: this is such a monumental achievement for the VA and nobody talks about it. Files will never be lost again, there will never be a 5-day delay as doctors wait for the company centers to send the files, etc. It is going be a major, groundbreaking change for the VA and their delays in settling claims but it goes largely undiscussed.

 

[Todd Andrews]

This scandal should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the VA system. They have had massive problems with a bloated, inefficient, bureaucratic monstrosity. Over 10 years ago when I was in residency it was a farce. 2+ year waits for screening colonoscopies. Cardiac catherizations done on patients but no stents could be placed because the facility did not have cardiac bypass capabilities. If bypass was needed, the patient was sent to the VA in Minneapolis - a > 6 hour drive away. Resident physicians would rebook established patients in their first available clinic spot to avoid having to see too many new and time-consuming patients. And on and on.

The problems with the VA system are certainly not new. Some places do well because the people who work there care about vets and do the job, even if they do way more than expected. The problem is exacerbated in places where there are a large number of vets and a larger percentage of people at that VA hospital who don't care, or who just do what is necessary to get by.

Well, to be fair, funding has increased significantly (33% I think) in the last five years but it still isnt nearly enough given the MASSIVE influx of claims over the last ten years and the antiquated systems they are using (something like half of all claims are still processed on paper!!??!). And Congress made the VA have to address a ton of new claims in mid-2000s when they ordered the VA to accept non-service related claims. In the mid-90's the mid-level bureaucracy was streamlined but regrew in the 2000s with our two wars, and the computer systems are still a joke. Congress has oversight and gets an "F" although there is a ton of blame to go around.

From the CNN piece above:

Since 2009, Congress has given Secretary Eric Shinseki every penny he has said he needed to fund the VA fully, resulting in an astonishing 50% increase in the agency's overall budget at a time when budgets everywhere else across the federal government have been squeezed, strained and slashed. Congress even exempted the VA from sequestration, a win that not even the Pentagon managed to score while still engaged in a war overseas.

Congress also agreed to take the extraordinary step of giving the VA the annual funding it needs to cover veterans' health care a year in advance so that the agency's hospitals and clinics never run out of money. It is the reason the VA's health care system continued to operate without interruption during last fall's government shutdown, even as parks, federal buildings and congressional offices were forced to close or curtail operations for weeks.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate, with the strong support of virtually all veteran and military service organizations, has pushed for years to give the VA the rest of its budget a year in advance, too, but the secretary and the Obama administration thus far have refused to endorse publicly the wisdom of protecting the entire VA budget with an advance appropriation.

...

I think the points by DD and this one in the article you posted are more to the point:

Congress has made the VA almost impossible to manage by restricting the agency’s ability to fire, discipline and transfer its employees. This problem, of course, is not unique to the VA. Congress has ordained a system of “merit protection” that, in effect, confers lifetime tenure on many federal employees, however incompetent. To fire or seriously discipline them, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki and his staff would have to invest immense time and effort. This helps explain why the VA’s malpractice costs are so high, why the federal government’s employee discharge rate is only about one-eighth the private-sector rate and why Shinseki has not fired even the senior VA officials responsible for so much documented, life-endangering negligence. A bill that would make it easier for him to do so recently passed the House and has bipartisan support in the Senate — but even if enacted, this reform would be too late for the victims of the VA’s incompetence.

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would give the Department of Veterans Affairs greater authority to fire or demote senior executives for perceived performance problems.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has made clear that he doesn’t think the measure is necessary to hold officials properly accountable, but it allows lawmakers to go on the record supporting strong consequences for managers who oversee troubled programs within the embattled agency.

The House voted 390-33 in favor of the bill, which was sponsored by House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.). Republicans voted unanimously for the legislation, while all but 33 Democrats supported it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/05/21/house-passes-va-firing-bill/

Anyone see a push by Pres. Obama to make it easier to fire, discipline and transfer federal employees???

Because it sounds like that is what is necessary.

You are missing the point: Shinseki was getting fed bogus numbers that told the VA leadership that wait times were within the 30 day required period. Of course, he wasnt asking for a ton more money because he thought things were working.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

This scandal should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the VA system. They have had massive problems with a bloated, inefficient, bureaucratic monstrosity. Over 10 years ago when I was in residency it was a farce. 2+ year waits for screening colonoscopies. Cardiac catherizations done on patients but no stents could be placed because the facility did not have cardiac bypass capabilities. If bypass was needed, the patient was sent to the VA in Minneapolis - a > 6 hour drive away. Resident physicians would rebook established patients in their first available clinic spot to avoid having to see too many new and time-consuming patients. And on and on.

The problems with the VA system are certainly not new. Some places do well because the people who work there care about vets and do the job, even if they do way more than expected. The problem is exacerbated in places where there are a large number of vets and a larger percentage of people at that VA hospital who don't care, or who just do what is necessary to get by.

Well, to be fair, funding has increased significantly (33% I think) in the last five years but it still isnt nearly enough given the MASSIVE influx of claims over the last ten years and the antiquated systems they are using (something like half of all claims are still processed on paper!!??!). And Congress made the VA have to address a ton of new claims in mid-2000s when they ordered the VA to accept non-service related claims. In the mid-90's the mid-level bureaucracy was streamlined but regrew in the 2000s with our two wars, and the computer systems are still a joke. Congress has oversight and gets an "F" although there is a ton of blame to go around.

From the CNN piece above:

Since 2009, Congress has given Secretary Eric Shinseki every penny he has said he needed to fund the VA fully, resulting in an astonishing 50% increase in the agency's overall budget at a time when budgets everywhere else across the federal government have been squeezed, strained and slashed. Congress even exempted the VA from sequestration, a win that not even the Pentagon managed to score while still engaged in a war overseas.

Congress also agreed to take the extraordinary step of giving the VA the annual funding it needs to cover veterans' health care a year in advance so that the agency's hospitals and clinics never run out of money. It is the reason the VA's health care system continued to operate without interruption during last fall's government shutdown, even as parks, federal buildings and congressional offices were forced to close or curtail operations for weeks.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate, with the strong support of virtually all veteran and military service organizations, has pushed for years to give the VA the rest of its budget a year in advance, too, but the secretary and the Obama administration thus far have refused to endorse publicly the wisdom of protecting the entire VA budget with an advance appropriation.

...

I think the points by DD and this one in the article you posted are more to the point:

Congress has made the VA almost impossible to manage by restricting the agency’s ability to fire, discipline and transfer its employees. This problem, of course, is not unique to the VA. Congress has ordained a system of “merit protection” that, in effect, confers lifetime tenure on many federal employees, however incompetent. To fire or seriously discipline them, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki and his staff would have to invest immense time and effort. This helps explain why the VA’s malpractice costs are so high, why the federal government’s employee discharge rate is only about one-eighth the private-sector rate and why Shinseki has not fired even the senior VA officials responsible for so much documented, life-endangering negligence. A bill that would make it easier for him to do so recently passed the House and has bipartisan support in the Senate — but even if enacted, this reform would be too late for the victims of the VA’s incompetence.

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would give the Department of Veterans Affairs greater authority to fire or demote senior executives for perceived performance problems.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has made clear that he doesn’t think the measure is necessary to hold officials properly accountable, but it allows lawmakers to go on the record supporting strong consequences for managers who oversee troubled programs within the embattled agency.

The House voted 390-33 in favor of the bill, which was sponsored by House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.). Republicans voted unanimously for the legislation, while all but 33 Democrats supported it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/05/21/house-passes-va-firing-bill/

Anyone see a push by Pres. Obama to make it easier to fire, discipline and transfer federal employees???

Because it sounds like that is what is necessary.

You are missing the point: Shinseki was getting fed bogus numbers that told the VA leadership that wait times were within the 30 day required period. Of course, he wasnt asking for a ton more money because he thought things were working.

Ok I see that is a good point. - But don't you think those people should be canned/fired?

 

[Todd Andrews]

This scandal should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the VA system. They have had massive problems with a bloated, inefficient, bureaucratic monstrosity. Over 10 years ago when I was in residency it was a farce. 2+ year waits for screening colonoscopies. Cardiac catherizations done on patients but no stents could be placed because the facility did not have cardiac bypass capabilities. If bypass was needed, the patient was sent to the VA in Minneapolis - a > 6 hour drive away. Resident physicians would rebook established patients in their first available clinic spot to avoid having to see too many new and time-consuming patients. And on and on.

The problems with the VA system are certainly not new. Some places do well because the people who work there care about vets and do the job, even if they do way more than expected. The problem is exacerbated in places where there are a large number of vets and a larger percentage of people at that VA hospital who don't care, or who just do what is necessary to get by.

Well, to be fair, funding has increased significantly (33% I think) in the last five years but it still isnt nearly enough given the MASSIVE influx of claims over the last ten years and the antiquated systems they are using (something like half of all claims are still processed on paper!!??!). And Congress made the VA have to address a ton of new claims in mid-2000s when they ordered the VA to accept non-service related claims. In the mid-90's the mid-level bureaucracy was streamlined but regrew in the 2000s with our two wars, and the computer systems are still a joke. Congress has oversight and gets an "F" although there is a ton of blame to go around.

From the CNN piece above:

Since 2009, Congress has given Secretary Eric Shinseki every penny he has said he needed to fund the VA fully, resulting in an astonishing 50% increase in the agency's overall budget at a time when budgets everywhere else across the federal government have been squeezed, strained and slashed. Congress even exempted the VA from sequestration, a win that not even the Pentagon managed to score while still engaged in a war overseas.

Congress also agreed to take the extraordinary step of giving the VA the annual funding it needs to cover veterans' health care a year in advance so that the agency's hospitals and clinics never run out of money. It is the reason the VA's health care system continued to operate without interruption during last fall's government shutdown, even as parks, federal buildings and congressional offices were forced to close or curtail operations for weeks.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate, with the strong support of virtually all veteran and military service organizations, has pushed for years to give the VA the rest of its budget a year in advance, too, but the secretary and the Obama administration thus far have refused to endorse publicly the wisdom of protecting the entire VA budget with an advance appropriation.

...

I think the points by DD and this one in the article you posted are more to the point:

Congress has made the VA almost impossible to manage by restricting the agency’s ability to fire, discipline and transfer its employees. This problem, of course, is not unique to the VA. Congress has ordained a system of “merit protection” that, in effect, confers lifetime tenure on many federal employees, however incompetent. To fire or seriously discipline them, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki and his staff would have to invest immense time and effort. This helps explain why the VA’s malpractice costs are so high, why the federal government’s employee discharge rate is only about one-eighth the private-sector rate and why Shinseki has not fired even the senior VA officials responsible for so much documented, life-endangering negligence. A bill that would make it easier for him to do so recently passed the House and has bipartisan support in the Senate — but even if enacted, this reform would be too late for the victims of the VA’s incompetence.

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would give the Department of Veterans Affairs greater authority to fire or demote senior executives for perceived performance problems.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has made clear that he doesn’t think the measure is necessary to hold officials properly accountable, but it allows lawmakers to go on the record supporting strong consequences for managers who oversee troubled programs within the embattled agency.

The House voted 390-33 in favor of the bill, which was sponsored by House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.). Republicans voted unanimously for the legislation, while all but 33 Democrats supported it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/05/21/house-passes-va-firing-bill/

Anyone see a push by Pres. Obama to make it easier to fire, discipline and transfer federal employees???

Because it sounds like that is what is necessary.

You are missing the point: Shinseki was getting fed bogus numbers that told the VA leadership that wait times were within the 30 day required period. Of course, he wasnt asking for a ton more money because he thought things were working.

Ok I see that is a good point. - But don't you think those people should be canned/fired?

I would take a flamethrower to the place, and to Congress. It makes me sick how we send millions of our troops to fight unnecessary wars of choice and then dont take care of them. And what is most sad is that this was all predicted and no one did anything about it.

 

[eurotrashman]

Michael Strahan (DE NYG), "as the son of a retired military major," confronts President Obama on this issue:

This is some of your best work.

 

[Ilov80s]

VA gave $100 million in bonuses while vets died on waiting lists.

http://on.freep.com/1nwWvN2

 

[culdeus]

I'm not sure when, but at some point this almost rises to the level of an impeachable offense for Obama.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Good piece on 60 Minutes about the new VA Secretary. Exactly what the place needed.

 

[The Commish]

Good piece on 60 Minutes about the new VA Secretary. Exactly what the place needed.

Agreed....hopefully he doesn't get bogged down in the politics like so many do.

 

[Premier]

Good piece on 60 Minutes about the new VA Secretary. Exactly what the place needed.

He came to my office a few weeks ago. Did a town hall, and spent the whole time answering questions. Stood right next to the person asking the question instead of at a podium a hundred yards away. Small thing, but made a BIG impression on everybody here.

 

[The Commish]

I was absolutely floored when he said they were looking for about 26,000 more doctors. Unbelievable.