The Patriot Post® · Waiting for Reform at the VA

The Department of Veterans Affairs is making progress in reducing the number of veterans who have been waiting longest for care, according to James Hutton, a VA spokesman. Long-term wait-lists have been reduced by 57%, but the news isn’t all good. More than 600,000 veterans, 10% of all VA patients, still wait over a month for appointments at VA clinics and hospitals, according to a report by USA Today.

VA Secretary Robert McDonald, who took over the embattled department at the end of July, has been working overtime to get the VA back on track. Frequently crisscrossing the country to visit facilities and speak with VA administrators and veterans, McDonald discovered there is much left to do to raise the level of veterans’ care to where it should be.

Since the wait-list scandal exploded earlier this year – revealing the outrageous fact that veterans were waiting in some cases more than a year to receive care – the department has dropped the number of chronic wait-times from 120,000 in May to 23,000 in October. The kicker is that a substantial amount of those veterans seeking care obtained it from private providers outside the VA system.

Some VA facilities still have long wait times, with 64 of them having average wait times of more than 60 days for new patients. Major facilities like Baltimore, Atlanta and Jacksonville each have at least 30,000 pending appointments. An additional 33 facilities have a two-month wait for new patients seeking mental health appointments.

McDonald announced a restructuring plan on Nov. 10, the day before Veterans Day. He wants to include a VA-wide customer service office, create new partnerships with private organizations that can help with the VA backlog, and take action to simplify the department’s structure. He is also seeking to expand the staff at VA hospitals.

McDonald is also moving to fire VA employees who do not meet the department’s values. “We are acting aggressively, expeditiously and consistent with the law,” he said. The VA has taken disciplinary action against 5,600 employees in the last year, but attempts to fire poor performers have been stymied by bureaucracy. VA executives who face the ax can appeal their firing with the Merit System Protections Board, which has a policy of addressing appeals within 120 days but has a significant backlog of cases stemming from last year’s government furlough. Two VA leaders – Deputy Chief Procurement Officer Susan Taylor and Dublin, Georgia, VA Director John Goldman – retired during the termination process with their pensions intact.

Restoring trust in the VA will be no easy task, and it won’t happen soon. The second largest government agency is home to the largest health care system in the country. McDonald doesn’t seem to be taking his job lightly. The former Procter and Gamble CEO is also a graduate of West Point, so there is at least hope that he is sincere in his efforts. The big question is whether he will get the congressional backing that he needs. The $17 billion bill Congress passed earlier this year included $360 million in employee bonuses that could have been better spent on our veterans. As long as there is a mentality by those in power in Washington to protect their own, veterans will suffer neglect.