Fixing the VA Requires More Than a Fall Guy

[DeepseekerADS]

Fixing the VA Requires More Than a Fall Guy | National Review Online

Eric Shinseki must go, but Veterans Affairs’ problems are larger than just one man.

By Pete Hegseth

Are we about to see the first stirrings of accountability at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), after years of neglect, indifference, and bureaucratic dysfunction? Let’s hope so.

Last week the American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans organization, decided it had had enough. With evidence mounting that veterans had died needlessly, allegedly as a result of VA officials’ falsifying records, the Legion called for the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and two other top VA executives. The Legion has since been joined by key senators and several newspaper editorial boards.

I agree that Shinseki must go. The organization I represent — Concerned Veterans for America — called for the secretary’s ouster over a year ago, when the backlog of veterans awaiting action on their disability claims and compensation passed 800,000. In August, we even delivered a petition signed by 26,000 veterans to the White House, again demanding Shinseki’s replacement as VA secretary.

But if those committed to fixing the VA focus only on Shinseki’s ouster, it is at our peril. While his departure is needed to send a clear message about leadership accountability, it is not sufficient to fix what’s wrong at the agency. Shinseki is no reformer; but even if he had been, the VA’s stifling bureaucracy likely would have engulfed him. Fixing the VA will require a top-to-bottom overhaul, with a laser focus on restoring accountability at all levels.

Over the past several weeks, disturbing revelations about mismanagement and potential malfeasance at the VA medical center in Phoenix — where 40 veterans reportedly died due to delayed care — have raised serious questions about the department’s culture. Similar allegations have now arisen in Fort Collins, Colo., and San Antonio, Texas, where it’s reported that VA officials falsified records to obscure the truth about how long patients were waiting for care — once again, to the severe detriment of veterans and their families. Veterans across the country are dying in VA hospitals, far from combat, while waiting on falsified waiting lists — a national scandal.

As the truth about the VA’s failures has become increasingly undeniable, critics have rightfully turned their attention to the man in charge. That’s understandable — Shinseki is a retired U.S. Army general and should understand as well as anyone the command imperative that when a leader is failing in a mission, he or she must be swiftly replaced.

And indeed, that is the situation Shinseki finds himself in today. While I believe the secretary to be an honorable man with good intentions and a distinguished service record, he lacks the aggressive reformer mentality needed to turn the VA into a results-driven, customer-service-oriented agency. Despite substantially increased VA budgets since 2009, red tape has grown, wait times have increased, and care for too many veterans has not improved. Shinseki’s departure from the VA is necessary to signal that the agency’s sclerotic bureaucratic culture must change.

In calling for Shinseki’s resignation, the Legion cited a “pattern of scandals that has infected the entire system.” That’s a perfect summation of this crisis — it’s not just Phoenix, and it’s not just Shinseki. The medical metaphor accurately describes what has become of the VA in recent years, and it needs emergency treatment.

There is a cure for what ails the VA, and it is a powerful one: accountability. It’s time to restore leadership oversight to VA, our second-largest federal department. Only an accountable VA secretary, accountable VA leadership, and accountable VA employees can ensure that veterans are treated with the respect and honor that they have earned — and that they are too infrequently getting today.

Along with Shinseki’s departure, Congress should pass the VA Management Accountability Act of 2014, a bill introduced by Jeff Miller (R., Fla.) in the House and by Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) in the Senate. The bill is powerful in its simplicity: Its one-page mandate empowers the VA secretary to remove managers who fail to perform. Common-sense, non-partisan, and long overdue, this legislation boasts 116 bipartisan co-sponsors in the House and would set the stage for additional reforms at the VA. It’s not a silver bullet, but it’s a start.

For the good of the VA, it’s time for Shinseki to step aside (or for the president to step up and fire him), but not because we need a sacrificial lamb or a fall guy to blame for the department’s failures. No, Shinseki’s departure should serve as a clear signal to all VA managers and employees that accountability is the watchword for what ails the department and that no leaders in government are immune from being held to account should they fail to get results.

— Pete Hegseth is the CEO of Concerned Veterans for America and a Fox News contributor. He is an infantry officer in the Army National Guard and has served tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay.

 

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[Unclebuck257]

Deep,

In past threads regarding the health care I have received in the past few years at the VA here at the Dallas VA Hospital, the Fort Worth VA Medical Facility and from my primary care clinic, I have always stated that the care I have gotten was absolutely great and from very caring people, from the volunteers up to and including the general physicians and surgeons.

What I have learned since the first of this year however has really opened my eyes to what others have been going through for quite some time, and to a degree, I'm beginning to understand some of the majoer problems those others have been having.

Unknown to me prior, most of the Primary Care VA Clinics in the US are operated, via a contract with the VA, by one company holding that contract. I never had any problems prior to the first of this year because my primary care clinic was one of the few remaining clinics in the country operated by a private physician and not under the control of this company with the nationwide contract. Yes, we had RN PAs in my primary care clinic, but they were VERY GOOD and really cared. Like with my cancer that was first found by one of those PAs, after for years, civilian MDs told me it was nothing to worry about and brushed me off. When the Melonoma was suspected, they immediately called the Dallas VA Hospital, in addition to putting in a request for a Dematology Visit in my computer records, and got me the Dermatology appt immediately with doctors at the Dallas VA Hospital. As a result, I had quick confirmation of a really serious situation, and immediate care (surgery) to rectify the situation.

Fast forward to the first of this year. The doctor that privately ran my primary care clinic is retiring and let his contract with the VA expire. My primary care clinic then fell into that huge group of other clinics under the contract and the control of that company that I mentioned earlier who controls most of the other clinics in the country. An entirely new staff was brought into the clinic and untril a full time physician is hired by them, this company is taking doctors from other primary care clinics and bringing them into my clinic on a 30 day rotation at a time. The staff, an LVN and another nurse, really appear to care, but don't have the authority an MD does, and the visiting MDs, one at a time, appear overwhelmed and just trying to put out fires. No follow up to make sure requested specialty appts at the Dallas VA Hospital are scheduled and visits are taking 1-2 months now to get at the Dallas VA Hospital with a specialist.

It got so bad that I had outpatient surgery last week, and since the VA left me basically hanging and I couldn't handle the extreme pain and the VA wait, I had it done by a civilian doctor, using my Medicare coverage, in just two days. In addition, I figure the VA misread my Cat Scan, BIG TIME, telling me that I didn't have a kidney stone when I had had a civilian Cat Scan at the emergency room of our local hospital that showed I definitely had a stone just 4 weeks before. Then, a week following the VA Cat Scan, I was back in the emergency room at our local hospital with severe pain and another Cat Scan was done there that showed I now had THREE good sized kidney stones, and one was blocking urine flow from my kidney into my bladder and that had caused my kidney to swell up to one and a half times its normal size. A very dangerous situation, to say the least, not to mention the pain too.

What I'm saying here is that the VA Healthcare System appears to be under the control of a minor few people controlling these contracts for primary care, the company owners, and they don't appear to care about anything but money. When I saw one of those visiting doctors at my primary care clinic and complained about how much time it was taking to get scheduled in at the Dallas VA Hospital to see a specialist and that we didn't have that problem before, his answer to me was "I put a request in the computer to get you scheduled and now it's up to them!" "This is gov't healthcare and it ain't very good"! end quote.

No wonder that some vets are really pissed off and frustrated if that's the attitude they've been getting regarding their treatment! The entire system needs revamping and looked at. Even considering vouchers so a vet can get to see a civilian doctor if the wait at the VA is over a certain period.

Right now, the VA regs state that if a vet cannot be seen by a VA doctor within two weeks, the vet, he/she, supposedly can go see a civilian doctor and have the bill sent to the VA and the VA is supposed to pay that bill. Good luck with that one though, as I've been told by civilian doctors who have tried that after treating a vet in those circumstances! Hell, the VA turned down one of my recent emergency room visit bills and I was in so much pain I couldn't drive let alone make it to the VA Dallas Hospital, an hour and a half away, 75 miles away.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Wow Unclebuck! That's the first time I've heard that.

Like you, I have received exceptional care in the past. One thing makes me wonder though. December 6th I had my normal colonoscopy, and the specialist (contracted out) recommended immediate hemicolonectomy. On December the 14th I received a copy of the letter the specialist sent to the VA in Salem, Virginia. So, I expected to hear something pretty soon from the VA. Come late February I had heard nothing - almost 3 months after the procedure.

I e-mailed my Primary Care RN PA, and she responded that she'd not seen the report but would look for it. The VA set-up and appointment the next week, pre-op on March 6th, and then they did the surgery on March 14th.

Had I not e-mailed my RN PA (who I love to death !!!), I wonder if I'd have ever received the surgery. When the surgeon went in, he found a lot more than the procedure had found, and thus removed a lot more of my colon. I'm fortunate I don't wear a bag. But if it had been allowed to go further, where would I be today.

One thing I believe is that sometimes we do need to push the VA into action.

With the background provided by your experience, things seem to be clicking in place. Thank you for relaying that to us!

 

[Unclebuck257]

Deepseeker,

Glad to hear that you got the surgery and had it finally taken care of. Your post goes directly to the point I was saying though. IF you hadn't pushed your primary care PA, nothing would have happened. I had a primary care PA previously that was a super person, as your's is now, however when this contract company took over my primary care facility they fired all but one of the previous employees, this good PA included and put their own people in place. As I said, I've had major problems since the old crew left in getting the follow up appointments with suggested specialists. I just now returned to town from a 9 day trip and just found a letter from the VA that an appt. for me has been scheduled for July 3rd with the Dermatology Dept at the Dallas VA Hospital. Heck man, I've been trying to get that appointment set up for almost 5 months now, and even when they do finally set it up, I've got to wait another month and a week!! Understand, I'm already a cancer survivor patient with the VA so they know how important follow up appointments are, or requested appointments are for possible new problems, which this is. I'm going to call them today and see if I can get an earlier appointment. I'll let you know what they say, but my primary care people did NOTHING to help me get this appointment set up with the exception of putting a request in the computer!

 

[VERDE]

Hey ADS!! Interesting Comment You Make!! But the best one I have heard today, is the Brillant Nancy Pelosi blames all of the VA System Failure on Ole George Bush!! Incredible!! Anyway, GOOD LUCK and GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!