Will the Phoenix VA hospitals former director Sharon Helman be held accountable?

[skp51443]

Welcome to 2016... and more of the same with extra lying and blame slinging.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/investigations/2016/01/06/va-chief-staff-departs-after-less-than-year-post/78362256/

 

 

Less than a year after his appointment as Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald's right-hand man, VA chief of staff Rob Nabors is leaving the agency "to pursue other opportunities," officials confirmed Wednesday.

As a member of President Barack Obama's White House staff, Nabors was first loaned to the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2014 to help troubleshoot problems at the height of the health-care wait-time crisis. He eventually was named McDonald's chief of staff last April. The agency Wednesday lauded Nabors' "extraordinary leadership in the turnaround of VA," saying he also helped McDonald in his Senate confirmation and reform efforts.

Bob Snyder, executive director of the MyVA Taskforce, will serve on an interim basis as Nabors' replacement.

 

 

Also this jewel:

 

This week, the attorney for a suspended administrator at the Phoenix VA hospital said the VA’s top health-care official made false statements under oath during a congressional hearing last month in Arizona.

In a Dec. 28 letter to Sen. Johnny Isakson, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, attorney Julia Perkins said Undersecretary David Shulkin knowingly provided “inaccurate testimony” about the VA’s failure to take action against Lance Robinson, the hospital’s associate director.

 

Robinson has been on paid administrative leave since May 2014, when he was notified that he faced termination for his role in the scandal over delayed care for veterans, manipulation of wait-time data and whistleblower retaliation. After the controversy erupted in Phoenix, it spread through the entire VA system, causing congressional investigations, the resignation of then-Secretary Eric Shinseki and a massive reform effort.

During opening statements at a Dec. 14 hearing in Gilbert Town Hall, Shulkin said a federal criminal investigation prevented the VA from taking action against two Phoenix VA administrators for the past 19 months. He said Robinson and Health Administration Services Chief Brad Curry have remained on paid leave because federal prosecutors would not allow the VA to interview witnesses.

Under questioning from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Shulkin elaborated: “We would very, very much like to conclude our administrative and disciplinary actions against those two officials. The U.S. attorney, as I’ve said in my statement, has prohibited us from interviewing those individuals.”

In her letter to Isakson, Perkins wrote: “Those statements are inaccurate.”

Perkins asserted that the Justice Department formally declined prosecution of Robinson in April, and that Robinson subsequently underwent a pair of six-hour interviews by VA investigators, in June and October. Moreover, Perkins wrote, Shulkin was "well aware" of the background when he testified.

 

 

Perkins’ letter, first reported by Federal Times, contends that Robinson was vindicated by internal probes, yet the VA left him in limbo while searching his record for some other cause for termination.

“These actions create the logical inference that the VA has already decided it cannot sustain the pending proposed removal,” she wrote, “… but remains determined to remove Mr. Robinson because of the political pressure to do so.”

 

Letting this whole mess hang fire since 2014 is unfair to all concerned.

[Ray,IN]

My blood pressure spikes whenever I return to read your updates Stan, but It'll not stop me from becoming better informed about this debacle. Keep up your good work!

[skp51443]

In today's news a couple of folks that have been on paid vacation for 19 months are going back to work.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/investigations/2016/01/08/suspended-va-bosses-return-phoenix-jobs-january-11/78517854/

Two Department of Veterans Affairs administrators in Phoenix who were suspended at the outset of a crisis over delayed patient care will return to work Monday, 19 months after they were put on paid leave and given termination notices.

Lance Robinson, associate director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System, will be assigned as a strategic planner at the VA’s southwest regional office in Gilbert, known as VISN 18, according to spokeswoman Jean Schaefer. Brad Curry, the system’s chief of Health Administration Services, will serve as a health systems specialist.

The two men have been focal points in a controversy over the VA’s perceived failure to hold leaders accountable for mismanagement and misconduct that caused a breakdown in care for veterans in Arizona and nationwide.

 

 

Explaining the reason(s) that they have been out for so long with no other action is a real problem for the folks trying to cover up the guilty, scapegoat bystanders and punish whistle-blowers and it is coming back to haunt the folks busy trying to hide their involvement in this mess. At this point I have no clue who is guilty and who isn't and I don't think anyone really does aside from the guilty parties. There has been so much covered-up, destroyed or otherwise disappeared over the last couple years due to internal VA stalling and lack of action by the politicians and federal prosecutors that we may never know.

The two administrators, and former Phoenix VA hospital Director Sharon Helman, became key figures in a controversy that started in Phoenix and enveloped the veterans health-care system nationwide. Investigations and audits found huge backlogs for medical appointments had been covered up, and that data manipulation occurred in part to justify bonuses. Inspectors also concluded the VA suffered from a corrupt culture that included bullying, cronyism, discrimination and whistleblower retaliation.

Helman was fired. Robinson and Curry were the subject of internal probes to determine their "knowledge, involvement and culpability" in patient-scheduling fraud and retaliation against whistleblowers. But VA inquiries and administrative hearings regarding her, Robinson and Curry have been plagued with conflicts, delays and contradictory findings.

Sen. McCain:

Shulkin and other officials at VA headquarters have refused to comment on those assertions.

McCain said Friday he was not aware Robinson and Curry were returning to work until informed by The Arizona Republic.

“I hadn’t heard that, but it’s another compelling argument that we have a long way to go before we reform the VA,” McCain told The Republic. “It also, to me, authenticates the need for the Choice Card. The only way that we’re going to reduce the size and bureaucracy of the VA is to have veterans going to other places to get their health care.”

McCain suggested that further investigation is warranted.

Rep. Kirkpatrick:

U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., said she would push VA Secretary Bob McDonald to "fix this outrageous situation."

"It's beyond frustrating to see this situation drag out for so long, cost taxpayers so much, and fail to provide any accountability in the end," Kirkpatrick said.

Concerned Veterans for America:

Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) Legislative and Political Director Dan Caldwell said the VA "has shown that it does not take accountability, or Congress, seriously" by allowing Robinson and Curry to return to work. He said the message sent to the public is that the agency is protecting its own instead of helping veterans.

If guilty these folks have done well, if innocent they have at least been paid while having their good names ruined.

Robinson and Curry have declined interview requests since they were placed on suspension. Since May 2014, they’ve received hundreds of thousands of dollars in pay and benefits while not working.

No idea where all of this is going but it sure looks like the guilty are playing an excellent game of hiding the ball and running out the clock.

 

[skp51443]

Thought this topic was finally dead... Nope, not yet!

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/investigations/2016/02/17/us-senators-probe-phoenix-va-whistleblower-case/80506878/

 

 

Two of the most powerful members of the U.S. Senate have called on the Department of Veterans Affairs to end retaliation against an Arizona whistleblower who exposed a breakdown in mental-health care at the Phoenix VA hospital.

Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., sent a letter Tuesday to VA Secretary Robert McDonald pressing him to "immediately cease" all reprisal against Brandon Coleman, a Phoenix VA Health Care System employee who last year went public with allegations that potentially suicidal veterans were allowed to walk out of the emergency room without treatment.

Grassley chairs the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Johnson heads the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Jessica Jacobsen, a VA spokeswoman, said McDonald received the letter and will respond directly to the senators. She added that the department is committed to creating a work environment where all employees feel safe sharing concerns and information.

 

 

Leave from late 2014 and still ongoing for doing nothing wrong, just reporting criminal activity that led to veterans deaths.

 

 

Coleman, a disabled veteran and specialist in substance-abuse care, went to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in late 2014 with allegations that at-risk veterans who showed up in the Phoenix VA hospital emergency room were not properly screened, and in some cases were allowed to "elope," or walk away without treatment. Coleman complained that, after raising those concerns, his medical records were unlawfully accessed — a retaliatory strategy sometimes employed by VA officials seeking psychological information to discredit a complaint.

After Coleman brought his concerns to the media, he was accused of misconduct and placed on administrative leave. A program he pioneered for drug-abuse victims was shut down. And, according to a sworn affidavit from the Phoenix human resources director, then-hospital Director Glenn Grippen asked VA lawyers if he could "remove Coleman from employment."

The letter from Grassley and Johnson notes that, last Halloween, a VA employee wore a costume to work mocking Coleman and his disability — behavior they described as "not only wholly inappropriate and incredibly insensitive, but yet another example of intimidation ..."

Coleman, who remains on leave, testified about his experience before Johnson's committee during a September 2015 hearing on VA accountability.

 

While he is getting paid, the message to other folks that see abuse and criminal actions by their betters is loud and clear.

[skp51443]

It would be good to post that the new crop of folks looking into the abuse and deaths of veterans were doing a good job.

 

Sorry but that this isn't a post about that since it isn't happening.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/investigations/2016/02/24/va-watchdog-sits-wait-time-investigation-reports-months/80863232/

 

 

WASHINGTON — After the Veterans Affairs wait-time scandal erupted nearly two years ago, the department's chief watchdog investigated 73 VA facilities across the country and found scheduling problems in 51 cases.

But that watchdog — the VA's inspector general — still has not released reports with the findings of those investigations to Congress or the public.

As a result, it’s impossible to tell which medical centers had problems, how serious those problems were, or whether they led to the deaths of any veterans. The inspector general has said only that they range from simple rule violations to deliberate fraud.

In Delaware, the inspector general found cases of improper scheduling at the Wilmington VA that led to disciplinary action months ago. But Democratic Rep. John Carney said he's still trying to figure out exactly what went on at the facility.

“I’m outraged that we still haven’t received the inspector general’s report,” he told USA TODAY last week. “The investigation began almost two years ago and we can’t address the problems when we don’t know the full picture.”

 

down a bit we have this jewel...

 

 

In December, President Obama signed legislation requiring the VA inspector general to release investigative reports within three days of completion.

But it's been months — in some cases possibly more than a year — since the VA wait-time reports were completed. Gromek, the inspector general’s spokeswoman, refused to say when the reports were finished. According to congressional testimony, all were completed before Dec. 9.

Gromek said the new law applies only to "issued" reports that include recommendations based on the findings.

“The reports of (wait-time) investigation are not issued and do not make a recommendation or suggest a corrective action,” she said. “We transfer our findings to VA’s Office of Accountability and Review (OAR) for any administrative action they deem appropriate.”

 

 

At the bottom of the article is a timeline slide show that starts back in 2012 that gives you a thumbnail view of this lingering problem and the harm it has caused veterans.

[skp51443]

More news on this mess:

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2016/03/01/sharon-helman-ex-phoenix-va-hospital-director-pleads-guilty/81172974/

 

 

Sharon Helman, the former Phoenix VA Health Care System director who was fired in 2014 amid a scandal over patient care, pleaded guilty Tuesday to filing a false financial disclosure that failed to list more than $50,000 in gifts she had received from a lobbyist.

A conviction for that crime carries a maximum prison sentence of five years, but terms of a plea agreement call for Helman to receive probation with no time behind bars.

Helman oversaw the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix from 2012-14, when whistleblowers disclosed to Congress and The Arizona Republic that veterans seeking appointments faced delays of up to a year, and that some had died while on secret wait lists. Subsequent investigations verified that the VA in Phoenix and at hospitals nationwide had "cooked the books," manipulating wait-time data. The revelations led to the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, as well as nationwide audits, congressional reviews and a $16 billion reform bill.

 

 

The gifts were provided by Dennis "Max" Lewis, a former Veterans Health Administration administrator who had been Helman's boss before he became a private consultant.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Helman failed to report $19,300 worth of gifts in 2013, including an automobile, a check for $5,000 and tickets to a Beyonce concert. In 2014, prosecutors said, Helman failed to disclose another $27,700 in perks. That included family tickets to Disneyland.

 

 

Phoenix FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Cwynar said, "Although this plea agreement calls for a term of probation, making a false financial disclosure to the federal government is a felony and will permanently attach to Ms. Helman's record."

 

Helman was not charged with unlawfully accepting the gifts, but failing to provide the VA with required information to evaluate a potential conflict of interest.

 

 

So what we have is the dead vets are still dead while Helman fired plus a plea to a felony on her record, not much but at least it is something.

[Ray,IN]

Although very small, it is a step in the right direction.

[Ray,IN]

Last week I heard a bit on the news about the VA publishing an online "cheat sheet" to circumvent their backlog of cases. Their "cheat sheet" said to go to an emergency room for treatment as one method of obtaining treatment. Now that's sad.

[skp51443]

You can "shortcut" some things but for a lot of issues related to military service you really want to see a doctor that has some contact with others with problems similar to yours.

 

Going to something outside the system usually means trusting a doctor who is looking your problem up on his phone instead of familiar with it and the treatments. Yes, there are poor and inexperienced doctors in the VA system but the odds of getting aspirin for PSTD or agent orange issues is less there.

[bigjim]

If it is a real emergency that surely is the best answer but you will most likely be responsible for costs (or your insurance or medicare) I don't know about Phoenix VA but it seems to be fairly common to send you to the VA emergency room in place of seeing your primary in a lot of cases. I had to go as described above once and the main thing they checked on was deep vein thrombosis. Once they determined I did not have that I was given written orders to see my primary for follow up on what my problem was. Getting in to see the primary in anything near a timely fashion was essentially impossible even though I was trying to follow their directions. I once had an actual bleeding semi-emergency after normal hours and drove to the VA emergeny room. Took forever but that didn't bother me as I understand triage and a few people were moved ahead of me and rightly so. I got and Xray and some stitches and written orders to follow up with my primary. Same story, I couldn't get in to see the primary. Our system is really screwed up and I am not real sure who to blame the most. I have had great care and crappy to no care in just a matter of hours. I had a pace maker generator and lead replaced. Then when my friend came to pick me up later that day he was told they didn't have anyone by that name. In Albq. VA they added 2 more patient advocates for a total of 4 and 2 are cracker jack at dealing with problems, one I haven't worked with and the one that has been there the longest is the least effective. What bugs me is we shouldn't need the advocates as much as we do.

[skp51443]

Not sounding good for the new and improved boss... The snips below are just an introduction to the full articles.

 

Phoenix:

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2016/04/07/inspectors-rip-phoenix-va-boss-at-previous-hospital/82759096/

 

 

The new boss at Phoenix's beleaguered VA Medical Center was in charge of a similar facility in Vermont where investigators last year uncovered rampant manipulation of patient appointments and falsification of wait times, according to a VA Inspector General report this week.

 

 

And this other news on the VA mess:

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/nation/2016/04/07/us-veterans-affairs-bosses-7-states-manipulated-vets-wait-times-care/82751762/

 

 

Supervisors instructed schedulers to falsify patient wait times at Veterans Affairs' medical facilities in at least seven states, according to newly released investigation reports from the department’s inspector general.

The manipulation gave the false impression that the facilities in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, New York, Texas and Vermont were meeting VA performance measures for shorter wait times.

The reports detail for the first time since the Phoenix VA wait-time scandal in 2014 how widespread scheduling manipulation was throughout the VA. Investigators previously have said manipulation was “systemic” but they did not identify which facilities had problems and how serious they were.

The investigations found that employees at 40 VA medical facilities in 19 states and Puerto Rico regularly “zeroed out” veteran wait times, which masked growing demand as new waves of veterans returned from wars in Iraq and Af

[skp51443]

This article is a bit of a press release for McCain (who is cranking up his Senate primary campaign) but it has some good information buried in it.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/2016/04/27/veterans-could-go-anywhere-health-care-under-mccain-bill/83606284/

 

 

Arizona Sen. John McCain proposed legislation Wednesday to expand and make permanent a program allowing veterans to go anywhere for health care.

McCain’s bill, borne of frustration over the slow pace of improvements in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' system, would remove the current restriction that veterans must wait more than 30 days or live more than 40 miles from a VA facility in order to go outside the VA system for care.

His bill also would:

Allow veterans to go to walk-in clinics for minor illnesses. The VA would be required to contract with a national chain of clinics to provide the service.

Expand operating hours of VA clinics and pharmacies.

Expand telemedicine to allow VA health-care providers in one state to treat veterans in other states.

 

 

McCain said he would give VA Secretary Robert McDonald a C-minus grade overall, but an F for not holding people in the agency accountable for their roles in various scandals. Among those scandals was the manipulation of scheduling records — discovered in Phoenix — that was used to hide the long waits veterans faced before getting appointments.

McCain also said no one has been held accountable for massive cost overruns in the construction of a new VA hospital in Denver.

 

Looks like the OMB was trying to kill the existing plan for relief of the backlog with funny numbers.

 

McCain and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is also a Democratic presidential candidate, negotiated the previous VA health-care overhaul legislation in summer 2014. McCain noted the Office of Management and Budget estimated that legislation would cost $3.3 billion but has only cost $400 million.

 

I have to agree with his standard to decide the changes are helping.

 

McCain said his office is still handling about 500 cases involving complaints by veterans.

“The day that (total) decreases I think will be the day that we have shown some progress in caring for our veterans,” McCain said.

[skp51443]

One of the Phoenix VA whistleblowers looks to have been taken care of.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2016/05/06/va-settles-phoenix-whistleblower/83999982/

 

 

An Arizona employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs who reported improper care for mental-health patients in Phoenix has settled a federal whistleblower complaint against the agency and returned to work this week after spending 18 months at home on paid leave.

Brandon Coleman, an addiction therapist formerly with the Phoenix VA Health Care System, has accepted a new position at a VA treatment center in Anthem as a condition of the settlement. The Community Based Outpatient Clinic operates under northern Arizona's VA leadership, removing Coleman from supervision in Phoenix.

"It's nice to finally be back at work," Coleman said Friday. "I'm just very excited about the opportunity because I'm going to be able to help veterans again."

Coleman reported in 2015 that mental-health patients who were potentially suicidal or homicidal were not adequately monitored in an understaffed Emergency Department at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix. He alleged that troubled veterans were allowed to "elope," or walk out without getting care. After Coleman reported his concerns, he was subjected to allegations of misconduct and internal investigations, which he claimed were retaliatory.

 

But if you thought anything had really changed and the guilty punished you need to read the last bit there.

 

 

Complete terms of his settlement remain confidential, and it is unclear whether any employee of the department has been disciplined for retaliation.

 

So the system protects the guilty once again.

[StarDreamers.us]

Why is this so hard to do?

 

All bonuses need to be reclaimed. Criminal charges pressed. The bonuses were fraudulently obtained. They also need to be reported to the appropriate licensing board. Bonuses for ALL federal employees need to be prohibited.

[skp51443]

Why is this so hard to do?

 

 

The Civil Service rules make it about impossible to punish anyone for anything.

 

It can be done but as an example here is one I saw. It took a couple hundred hours of the supervisor's time to get an idiot caught red handed sabotaging (about a week's work lost) a co-worker's government computer suspended for three days. The impact on him was that his eventual retirement date was moved three days later.

 

If the supervisor isn't motivated nothing is going to happen, if the supervisor is even a tiny bit guilty their best interest is in seeing nothing happen. If their boss is guilty they will do much better helping the boss cover up the mess, check this topic for what happens if you speak out instead of cover up. If the politicians really cared it would get fixed but they do not want it fixed, they want to keep it going so they have a campaign issue they can wave the flag over.

[skp51443]

I keep hoping I can just let this topic age off the forum but it just won't quit.

 

Aside from the idiocy of comparing vets dying while the paper-pushers shuffle them to the ignore bin so they can collect their performance bonus to the lines at Disney parks...

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/nation/2016/05/31/senate-investigation-finds-systemic-failures-va-watchdog/85208360/

 

 

WASHINGTON — A Senate investigation of poor health care at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tomah, Wis., found systemic failures in a VA inspector general’s review of the facility that raise questions about the internal watchdog’s ability to ensure adequate health care for veterans nationwide.

The probe by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee found the inspector general’s office, which is charged with independently investigating VA complaints, discounted key evidence and witness testimony, needlessly narrowed its inquiry and has no standard for determining wrongdoing.

One of the biggest failures identified by Senate investigators was the inspector general’s decision not to release its investigation report, which concluded two providers at the facility had been prescribing alarming levels of narcotics. The facility's chief of staff at the time was David Houlihan, a physician veterans had nick-named “candy man” because he doled out so many pills.

Releasing the report would have forced VA officials to publicly address the issue and ensured follow up by the inspector general to make sure the VA took action. Instead, the inspector general’s office briefed local VA officials and closed the case.

A 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran, Jason Simcakoski, died five months later from “mixed drug toxicity” at Tomah days after Houlihan signed off on adding another opiate to the 14 drugs he was already prescribed.

 

 

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the committee, which is holding a hearing on the findings in Tomah on Tuesday, told USA TODAY the failures were "systemic" and indicative of a troubling pattern.

"The reasons the problems were allowed to fester for so many years is because in the inspector general's office, for whatever reason, for years, the inspector general lacked the independence and had lost the sense of what its true mission was, which is being the transparent watchdog of VA system," he said.

 

 

While a new inspector general, Michael Missal, took over the office last month and promised comprehensive investigations and greater transparency, the lead investigators on health care remain in place, including John Daigh, the physician who made the decision to keep the Tomah report secret.

Assistant Inspector General for Healthcare Inspections

Assistant Inspector General for Healthcare Inspections John Daigh. (Photo: MANDEL NGAN, AFP/Getty Images)

A spokesman for the Office of Inspector General, Mike Nacincik, said Friday that IG officials had not finished reviewing the Senate report and so could not comment on the findings. But he said that at the time, Daigh felt it was appropriate not to release the Tomah report when it was finished in 2014 because the investigation did not substantiate wrongdoing.

 

Much more good stuff at the link, well "good" if you like sleazy excuses for killing vets with drug over-prescriptions - not just letting them die from refusing treatment.

[skp51443]

Still won't die and it is getting worse...

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2016/06/02/can-convicted-ex-phoenix-va-boss-sharon-helman-get-old-job-back/85309214/

 

 

Sharon Helman, the former Phoenix VA hospital director who last month was convicted of criminal misconduct in office, has won a key victory in a federal lawsuit challenging her termination, and could get her job back despite a felony conviction, according to congressional and legal experts.

On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch informed Congress that the Justice Department will not contest Helman's claim that federal firing procedures used against her were unconstitutional. The ramifications of that decision remain unclear, but the prospect of Helman getting reinstated as a Department of Veterans Affairs executive prompted outrage from politicians and veterans-advocacy groups.

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, ripped the decision, noting that President Barack Obama signed the Choice Act, which was passed to improve VA accountability.

"Today, the Obama Administration sent a message loud and clear to felons," Miller said in a written statement. "You will be coddled and protected at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which even before this decision was routinely tolerating egregious behavior among employees. … This decision only underscores the urgent need for civil service reform across the federal government."

 

So letting vets die is not a problem? More at the link.

[Retiredin1993]

Don't know if this is new news or not. Stan keeps busy posting.

 

http://cnsnews.com/commentary/hans-bader/attorney-general-lynch-refuses-defend-law-speedily-terminate-wrongdoers

[skp51443]

That article is a bit more on the background of this latest piece of the story. Not good news when things like this fly through congress and get signed into law with blaring publicity on how all involved in fixing everything and are "standing up for veterans" but once the cameras and talking heads move on all the wonderful stuff that was going to fix everything for everyone is quietly gutted in darkness and silence.

 

I keep posting this stuff because a lot of RVers use the Arizona VA while they are down here and this one fellow at one local paper seems to be the only person giving the Phoenix VA issue any consistent visibility. Without his work and the willingness of his paper to publish what he uncovers we'd know a lot less.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/staff/16935/dennis-wagner/

 

 

Reporter Dennis Wagner covers public corruption as a member of the Watchdog Center's government corruption team.

He has worked in various capacities as a reporter and columnist for more than 30 years.

[Ray,IN]

Please continue your work Stan. What you are doing keeps us up to speed on this continuing white-wash of a poorly-operated VA. I hope whoever is elected our next president has the grit to actually fix the VA.

[skp51443]

This looks good on the surface, they are finding (back in 2014) folks that have problems, putting them on paid vacation and eventually firing them but as you see with Helman's story above, fired in VA Speak doesn't mean fired as you and I think of it.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2016/06/08/three-more-phoenix-va-officials-fired-after-wait-time-scandal/85614056/

 

 

Three more administrators at the Phoenix VA Health Care System have been fired in the aftermath of investigations that focused on a breakdown in service to veterans and retaliation against hospital employees who tried to report mismanagement and corruption affecting patient care.

The Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday identified the terminated employees as Lance Robinson, associate director at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center; Brad Curry, the chief of Health Administration Service; and Dr. Darren Deering, the hospital's chief of staff. According to a VA news release, they were removed for "negligent performance of duties and failure to provide effective oversight."

None of those fired could immediately be reached for comment. They are entitled to appeal.

"We have an obligation to veterans and the American people to take appropriate accountability actions as supported by evidence," VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson said in a news release. "While this process took far too long, the evidence supports these removals and sets the stage for moving forward."

The personnel actions come more than two years after whistleblowers and the media exposed a huge backlog in medical appointments, as well as data manipulations that covered up delays in care. Audits and investigations subsequently revealed that the wait-time scandal was systemic throughout the VA. Then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki was forced to resign amid the controversy, which also prompted reform legislation and an effort to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs.

 

more at link

[skp51443]

The VA review final report is available:

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2016/07/05/va-panel-final-report/86717412/

[skp51443]

You thought this story was finally dead and life could go for Phoenix area vets? Sorry, things just keep getting worse.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2016/09/29/phoenix-va-hospital-gets-new-boss-rimaann-nelson/91278792/

 

A couple snips:

 

 

The Department of Veterans Affairs has named a new director to its beleaguered Phoenix VA Medical Center, and the decision instantly came under fire because the appointee left a previous hospital leadership post after it got the lowest satisfaction rating of any facility in the VA system.

RimaAnn Nelson, who most recently headed a tiny VA clinic in the Philippines, is expected to take charge of a Phoenix VA Health Care System that was the epicenter of a national crisis over its treatment of veterans. She is the seventh director during the past three years to enter a revolving leadership door at Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center.

Members of Arizona's congressional delegation reacted to the announcement with dismay.

 

 

The Daily Caller report said of Nelson: "VA superiors hid her literally on the other side of the Earth ... at the department's only foreign facility, a seldom-used clinic" in Manila. The online publication said Nelson got a government condo on U.S. Embassy grounds and kept her $160,000 salary from St. Louis.

 

The VA, giving vets one more chance to die for their country.

[skp51443]

This story will not die, unlike Phoenix area veterans.

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/4/phoenix-va-builds-new-backlog-200-veterans-die-wai/

 

 

The Phoenix Veterans Affairs office is still improperly canceling veterans’ appointments, has built up a new backlog of cases — and at least one veteran is likely dead because of it, the department’s inspector general said in a new report Tuesday.

 

Two years after they first sounded the alarm about secret waiting lists leaving veterans struggling for care at the Phoenix VA, investigators said some services have improved, and they cleared the clinic of allegations that top officials ordered staff to cancel appointments.

But confusion and bureaucratic bungling are still prevalent, some veterans are waiting a half-year or longer for treatment, and staff are still canceling appointments for questionable reasons.

More than 200 veterans died while waiting for appointments in 2015, and investigators said at least one veteran would likely have been saved if the clinic had gone ahead with his consultation.

“This patient never received an appointment for a cardiology exam that could have prompted further definitive testing and interventions that could have forestalled his death,” the inspector general said.

The VA is still reeling from an initial 2014 report that found top executives cooked their books, canceling appointments and shifting others onto secret wait lists to try to make their backlogs appear less drastic, hoping to earn performance bonuses.

The problems were first reported at the Phoenix VA, where dozens of veterans died while waiting for care, but investigators found similar secret wait lists and botched care at clinics across the country.

 

 

Matt Dobson, Arizona state director of Concerned Veterans for America, said the VA “is failing veterans because of its toxic leadership.”

 

“Arizona veterans are now on our seventh director in three years in Phoenix — we haven’t had a competent leader here in years,” Mr. Dobson said in a statement. “How can veterans expect to see anything but continued wait times and scandal when there is zero accountability for these so-called ‘leaders’? If the VA won’t hold their own employees accountable, Congress must.”

The VA, in its official reply to the inspector general’s report, insisted it’s improved things over the last few years despite lingering problems. Undersecretary for Health David J. Shulkin said they’ve cut the number of patients who wait more than 90 days for an appointment by 64 percent, and most of the ones that have been waiting aren’t considered urgent.

[remoandiris]

This story will not die, unlike Phoenix area veterans.

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/4/phoenix-va-builds-new-backlog-200-veterans-die-wai/

 

 

 

Unfortunately, nothing will change. Neither Congress, nor POTUS, nor the VA secretary are willing to take on the union.