When the VA, the largest healthcare system in the U.S., mandated COVID-19 vaccines for front-line healthcare workers in late July, it moved to the forefront of a building trend to require COVID-19 vaccines for some employees. It also established the department as the first federal agency to take the step.
While the last decade has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of veterans who are homeless on any given night, that trend has stalled in the last two years with numbers, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, starting to move upward again.
VA needs to do more to ensure workforce equity, inclusion and diversity, especially in its senior leadership roles, according to legislators and employee advocates.
VA might have underestimated the physical infrastructure costs related to its electronic health record modernization effort by billions according to a VA Inspector General report analyzing the project costs.
In its FY 2022 budget proposal, VA is asking Congress to provide the department with a 10% increase over 2021 funding levels.
With VA’s announcement that it will begin initiating the process to offer gender confirmation surgery to transgender veterans.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which disproportionately affected Native Americans, has revealed a critical need for investments in those communities, according to trial advocates and the Indian Health Service (IHS).
In its first meeting of the 117th Congress, the House VA Committee advanced a proposal that would allocate $17 billion for VA as part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
The first months of 2021 saw the progression of a number of high-profile criminal cases involving VA employees charged with harming the patients they were tasked to serve.
MISSION Act critics have raised alarms about the legislation consolidating and expanding VA’s community care program– that healthcare provided by non-VA providers would fail to meet VA’s standards.
Tens of thousands of less-than-honorably discharged veterans will have an easier avenue to have those discharges reconsidered and possibly adjusted, making it more straightforward for them to access VA services.
The Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection has followed through with only a small fraction of the cases it has investigated.
WASHINGTON — Veterans seeking care from community providers could face even longer wait times under the MISSION Act than they did before the legislation went into effect, a VA Office of Inspector General report has concluded. In the report released last month,...
WASHINGTON—Blue Water Navy veterans who want to file disability claims related to Agent Orange exposure will have to wait until next year to have their claims processed, VA announced last month.
WASHINGTON—In an about-face, the VA will recommend that the federal government not challenge a recent court decision ruling that the department cannot deny benefits to Vietnam-era Blue Water Navy veterans claiming Agent Orange exposure. The news came from VA Secretary...
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at lowering the rate of veteran suicides. The order—the President’s Roadmap To Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide—creates a Cabinet-level task force led by VA Secretary Robert...
WASHINGTON—A recent survey of the military service academies found that sexual assault has spiked over the last two years, up 50% since 2016. This news sparked fresh outrage from legislators, resulting in a hearing focusing on how military sexual trauma is dealt with...
Robert L. Wilkie took office as the 10th VA Secretary after the U.S. Senate voted 86-9 to confirm him.
VA Secretary nominee Robert L. Wilkie promised lawmakers he would not privatize VA healthcare if he is confirmed.
The VA and its partners are pursuing research, including six major studies, to better understand the potential health effects of burn pit exposures.
Despite changes in leadership, VA is planning to move forward with restructuring efforts, including redesigning its VISN system.
Legislation that would streamline VA’s community care programs into one program and expand VA’s caregiver program to veterans of all eras was signed into law earlier this month..
Legislation to prevent VA from outsourcing creation of its drug formulary and to require more input from medical professions is being considered in Congress.
Gene L. Dodaro became the eighth Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on December 22, 2010, when he was confirmed by the United States Senate. WASHINGTON — VA needs to address all of the required...
Draft legislation that would expand the Family Caregiver Program but make eligibility for the program more restrictive raised concerns for several veterans’ groups.
