02.20.2014
Lawmakers, Veterans Groups Want More Accountability at VA
Reports of preventable deaths, backlog of claims, widespread mismanagement
Lawmakers and veterans’ advocacy groups are intensifying their push to hold officials at the Veterans’ Affairs (VA) department accountable amid reports of preventable deaths, backlogged disability claims, and widespread mismanagement in recent months.
Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) launched its “VA Accountability” project on Tuesday, which calls the VA a “calcified bureaucracy unable to meet the basic needs of veterans.” It faults the VA for not firing senior employees accused of mismanagement and “stonewalling” congressional oversight committees that seek data on the department’s operations.
Lawmakers are also proposing more accountability measures at the VA.
Rep. Jeff Miller (R., Fla.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) introduced bills earlier this month that would grant the VA secretary authority to either remove or demote underperforming senior employees. Another bill that includes a five year ban on performance bonuses for senior employees overwhelmingly passed the House but is expected to face resistance in the Senate.
CVA’s accountability project calls on the group’s members to contact their representatives and express support for the bills.
Pete Hegseth, CEO for Concerned Veterans for America, said in an interview that support for VA accountability both among veterans’ groups and on Capitol Hill reflects a growing consensus that something should be done.
“The problems at VA have helped create a moment where people are saying ‘enough is enough,’” he said.
Both the VA’s inspector general and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have issued numerous reports in the past decade detailing long wait times and delays at VA health care facilities. Hundreds of thousands of veterans are still waitingfor their disability claims to be processed as part of a mounting backlog, which the VA has pledged to eliminate by 2015.
Recent reports of at least 31 preventable deaths at VA medical centers across the country have sparked a new backlash. A CNN investigation in November found that at least six veterans had died of cancer at a VA medical center in Columbia, S.C., due to delayed care.
Thousands of patients waited months to receive procedures such as colonoscopies that help diagnose and treat cancer, according to the CNN report. The facility received an extra $1 million appropriation from Congress to fix the problem but the waiting list continued to grow toward the end of 2011.
Senior VA officials and regional directors have continued to receive tens of thousands in cash bonuses in recent years despite the preventable deaths, disability claims backlog, infectious disease outbreaks, and costly delays on construction projects.
A GAO report last August found that the Veterans’ Health Administration (VHA) had not reviewed the goals set by regional medical centers and networks to ensure that they linked performance pay to providers’ performance. For example, five providers collected thousands in performance pay despite being punished for performance-related actions such as unsupervised surgeries and practicing with an expired license.
About 80 percent of VHA’s nearly 22,500 providers received $150 million in performance pay in 2011.
Hegseth said it is difficult for the VA secretary to “cut through the red tape” to actually fire someone who is underperforming.
“There is no accountability—all of these 31 preventable deaths, all of these years of backlog, and no has been fired at any level,” he said.
He contrasted the VA’s situation with the Army’s decision in 2007 to fire the commander of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center after reports of squalid living conditions for outpatient soldiers and mismanagement.
VA officials said in a statement that they “aggressively identify, correct, and work to prevent additional risks” after discovering incidents in their system.
They did not directly refer to the proposed legislation about firing employees but suggested changes could harm recruitment.
“VA must remain competitive to recruit and retain the best people in order to continue our progress,” the officials said. “Changes that would single out VA employees for punishment by removing existing federal civil service rules not only put VA at a competitive disadvantage, but can ultimately harm VA’s ability to best serve veterans.”
Hegseth said the VA “has done its own damage” by not doing a better job of rewarding employees based on merit.
He added that CVA and other veterans groups will be ramping up their outreach efforts to lawmakers in the coming weeks and urging them to demand accountability at the VA rather than simply appropriating more taxpayer money.
The VA’s $153 billion budget has increased by almost 60 percent since 2009.
“We’ve tried throwing more money at the problem. It hasn’t worked,” Hegseth said.
‘There’s finally now an appetite and willingness to say that what we’ve been doing in the last four, five, six years hasn’t worked.”
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