The U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee met on Thursday and the two Florida congressional representatives who play the most prominent roles on it clashed over how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been dealing with reforming its medical centers.
Last year, the department was rocked as news emerged detailing altered wait lists at VA medical facilities across the nation. In the Phoenix area, at least 30 veterans who were on altered waiting lists died as they waited for medical treatment. As a result, Eric Shinseki resigned his post as VA secretary back in May. Last summer, Congress voted to use $17 billion over a three-year period to reform VA medical centers, including $10 billion for veterans to seek private care if dealing with extended waits at VA medical centers. The legislation, which President Barack Obama signed into law, allows veterans who live more than 40 miles from a VA medical center to be eligible for private care. The legislation also designates $5 billion to add more medical personnel to VA centers.
Looking back on the VAs efforts over the past year, U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said U.S. VA Secretary Bob McDonald was off to a solid start but much more needed to be done, calling for more accountability for VA officials who dropped the ball.
I think Sec. McDonald is doing his best to correct VAs course, but enormous challenges remain, Miller said on Thursday. VAs chief problem a widespread lack of accountability among failed employees is as prevalent today as it was a year ago. In fact, in the wake of the biggest scandal in VA history, which centered on appointment wait time manipulation, not a single VA senior executive has been fired for wait time issues. Further, VA employees at the heart of the scandal in Phoenix remain on paid leave to this day.
Everyone knows accountability is a major problem at VA, and right now the department needs to work with Congress to ensure VA has every tool possible to swiftly hold problem employees accountable, Miller added. Thats why VAs refusal to support any HVAC legislative efforts to improve accountability at the agency introduced by this Congress is so disappointing. No one thought the departments problems would magically disappear upon the appointment of a new secretary. But its been a year since the scandal broke, and the department is still facing challenges with transparency, protecting whistle-blowers and conveying accurate information to the public. Its simply nae to think these issues will subside in the absence of the thorough house cleaning the department desperately needs.
Eric Shinsekis tenure as VA secretary was marked by many widespread and systemic problems, Miller concluded. But to his credit, Shinseki accepted responsibility for the issues that occurred on his watch. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for many employees who, despite their connection to the VA scandal, remain on the departments payroll to this day.
The ranking Democrat on the House committee is U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., who insisted on Thursday that the VA is making strides toward cleaning up its act, hiring more medical personnel and extending hours to treat patients.
Just last November I met with the leadership of the Jacksonville Outpatient Clinic to learn about the details behind the recent reports regarding the wait times for new patients, Brown said. Presently, I am pleased to report that the Jacksonville clinic has responded to the tremendous increase in VA patients by hiring more doctors, authorizing leases for additional space for the Jacksonville clinic, and expanding its hours of operation.
Nationally, we see this same movement by VA facilities towards hiring more doctors and expanding their operation hours, Brown noted. Indeed, with the numerous challenges the VA is undertaking, it is well-known that the issue of wait times will not be solved overnight. In fact, this issue is even more challenging at the present time, when the number of military personnel deployed to combat zones decreases and the armed services draw down. Certainly, in the very near future there will continue to be increases in the number of veterans seeking treatment through the VA precisely because of the drawdown, and it is well-known that veterans prefer to receive their care directly from VA-operated facilities instead of going outside the system.
Additionally, the agency of Veterans Affairs as a whole is looking to those best practices already being used by individual VA medical facilities, who have already reduced their wait times by implementing the aforementioned changes, including increasing their available weekday hours, weekend hours and hiring more doctors and clinicians, Brown added. Utilization of the $5 billion in emergency funding that Congress provided last year to assist with wait time solutions will also go a long way towards the alleviation of this problem. Moreover, because of the recent adjustment to the interpretation of the 40-mile rule associated with the VA Choice program, there is yet another avenue now open to the VA to get veterans who are on a wait list that exceeds 30 days into a non-VA facility to receive treatment. Finally, the VA does need to improve the way in which the agency plans for and builds medical facilities, focusing on the demographics of where veteran populations live. Certainly, getting newer facilities in the right geographic locations will help to solve the wait time issue in the long term.
Along with my colleagues on the Committee on Veterans Affairs, I remain vigilant to ensure that VA health clinics across the nation are receiving the necessary attention and funding to fully serve our veterans so that they have quick access to the best health care for their service to our great nation, Brown insisted.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
