WASHINGTON—The rollout of VA’s new medical scheduling system has been delayed an additional two years, with the end date being pushed from 2023 to 2025, VA officials announced last month. VA had separated implementation of the new system from its larger...
For Custodian-Turned-PR Professional, Promoting Good at VA Is a Passion
WASHINGTON—It’s a constant refrain from VA leaders and staff that despite the continual spotlight that VA finds itself in, the public, legislators and even veterans themselves are unaware of just how much good work happens at VA facilities on a daily basis. As...
VA: MISSION Act Rollout Appears to Have Gone Well in First Three Months
WASHINGTON—Three months following the implementation of the MISSION Act, VA leaders testified before Congress that the sweeping changes to the agency’s community care standards are rolling out smoothly. Concerns remain, however, about veterans’ lack of understanding...
Legislators, OIG Challenge VA Contention That Care Problems Are ‘Isolated’
WASHINGTON—Disturbing incidents involving VA facilities have been in the headlines recently.
VA Facing Critical Healthcare Staffing Shortages in Near Future
WASHINGTON—Oversight agencies are sounding the alarm that VA is plagued with large staffing shortages in critical areas, including physicians, registered nurses, physician assistants, psychologists and physical therapists, as well as human resource specialists.
Advocates Square Off Against VA on Women’s Veterans Task Force’s Role
WASHINGTON—It’s been nearly six months since the House VA Committee launched its bipartisan Women Veterans Task Force, and the result is a legislative docket filled with bills geared toward ensuring VA has the resources it needs to care for the growing number of...
Women, Chronically Ill Veterans Value Veterans Choice Access Most
HINES, IL—Women and veterans with multiple comorbidities used and valued the Veterans Choice Program (VCP) more than other veterans, according to recent research by the VA.1 To help these veterans and others, the VA has taken steps under the MISSION Act to improve...
Top VISN 7 Officials Removed After Atlanta VAMC Patient Attacked by Insects
Elderly AF Veteran Had More Than 100 Ant Bites Before Death ATLANTA—Nine VA employees, including the VISN 7 director and chief medical officer, have been reassigned following reports that an elderly patient at the Atlanta VAMC’s Eagles’ Nest Community Living Center...
VBA Improves Oversight of Outside Contractors But Some Gaps Remain
Nearly a year after a Government Accountability Office report revealed that the Veterans’ Benefit Administration had been unable to track the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of the outside contractors
Feds Investigate 11 Unexplained Deaths at West Virginia VAMC
CLARKSBURG, WV – Law enforcement officials announced recently that a criminal investigation has been launched to look into the unexplained deaths of as many as 11 patients at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center here. The probe, described as “an ongoing and...
VA Pathologist Indicted In Connection Veteran Deaths in Arkansas
Investigators Say Impaired Clinician Recorded Wrong Diagnoses FAYETTEVILLE, AR – A physician employed by the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks here was indicted by a federal grand jury on a range of charges, including three counts of involuntary manslaughter...
GAO: VA Still Lags in Ability to Track Veteran Wait Times for Care
WASHINGTON—Five years after scandal rocked the VA, the agency still does not have a reliable way of tracking patient wait times according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. In 2014, whistleblowers at the Phoenix VAMC revealed that facility leadership...
VA: Blue Water Veterans Must Wait Until 2020 for Claims to Be Processed
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.
Unions Go to Court to Stop VA Changes in ‘Official Time’ Policy
VA’s announcement that it would eliminate paid union-related official time for medical professionals, as of Nov. 15, has drawn a lawsuit from unions representing the agency’s employees.
Congress Urged to Find a Cost-Effective Way to Expand Benefits to Pre-9/11 Veteran Caregivers
WASHINGTON — Veterans from earlier eras should have expanded benefits related to family caregiver, but only if they are severely injured, VA officials have told Congress.
VA Cancer Patients Less Likely to Receive Excessive Care at End of Life
VA patients dying of cancer are far less likely to receive excessive and unnecessary end-of-life interventions than those treated by Medicare.
New Executive Order Guarantees a Year of Mental Healthcare After Separation from Service
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the DoD, VA and Homeland Security departments develop a plan to ensure that all new veterans receive mental healthcare for at least one year following their separation from service.
VA Reduces Email Burden for Clinicians to Allow More Time, Focus on Patients
By Annette M. Boyle WASHINGTON—Concerned about how much time clinicians spend reading and responding to emails, the VA is changing its messaging system so that more of their focus can be on patient care. The new approach to the inbox notifications system, developed in...
VA Promises Changes After Widespread Failure to Report Clinician Safety Issues
VA officials sought to reassure lawmakers that the agency is responding appropriately to an oversight report finding that several medical providers who gave harmful care to patients were never reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) or state licensing boards (SLB).
Shortage of Supplies Might Have Delayed Medical Procedures at VAMCs
In response to complaints that clinicians at VAMCs lack adequate medical and surgical products to care for veterans, VA conceded it needs to make its product formulary more robust.
