VA Moves to Prevent Veteran Violence Over Disability Claims

To curtail confusion, the department wants to change when veterans can view the results of their disability exam online.

 Veterans Affairs officials want to change when veterans can view some of their medical records online, fearing that some could become violent if they see negative comments and think their disability claims will be denied.

A group of department officials said Monday that they fear some veterans could see the notes from the exam, assume from this partial picture that their claim is being denied, and take out their anger on local VA officials. They voiced their safety concerns Monday to members of the department's Advisory Committee on Disability Compensation at their meeting this week in Washington.

Source:  http://www.nationaljournal.com/defense/va-moves-to-prevent-veteran-violence-over-disability-claims-20141021

VA Awards Contract for Independent Assessment of Health Care to Non-Profit Firm

Choice Act Requires Third Party Assessment of Processes; Firm Will Serve as Program Integrator

Washington – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced that the MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit company that operates multiple federally funded research and development centers, has been awarded a contract to support the Independent Assessment of VA health care processes, as required by the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 (“Choice Act”). MITRE Corporation will serve as program integrator.

Section 201 of the Choice Act directs VA to enter into one or more independent, third-party contracts for an assessment of the hospital care, medical services and other health care processes in VA medical facilities. The program integrator will be responsible for coordinating the outcomes of the assessments conducted by the third-party entities according to the scope of the contracts. The program integrator is required to report the independent assessment results to Congress within 60 days of the assessment’s conclusion.

“This independent assessment is a key element in our effort to rebuild trust with Veterans and our other stakeholders,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald.  “It will provide the Department a way to transparently review our vital programs, organizations, and business practices to make us a better and more accountable VA for the Veterans we serve.”

Working with Congress, Veterans Service Organizations, and other stakeholders, VA has taken steps to implement Choice Act legislation, including:

• Establishing a Program Management office to oversee planning and implementation of the legislation across the Department.
• Putting in place the mechanisms to execute the outlined facilities with the authorization provided to carry out major medical facility leases.
• Working through the contracting process to extend the pilot program called Project ARCH to ensure the continued expanded access for Veterans in rural areas provided by that program.
• Holding Industry Day to seek input on how best to provide administrative support including issuing Veteran Choice Cards.

VA reform bill preserves employee bonuses

Despite public outrage over dysfunctional and dangerously run hospitals, a landmark VA reform bill set to be signed Thursday by President Barack Obama will retain some department perks: Hefty bonuses for executives and other employees.

The bill includes a compromise by House and Senate lawmakers allowing the Department of Veterans Affairs to continue handing out up to $360 million in employee performance awards each year as it attempts to overhaul its health care system and ease chronically long patient wait times.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/va-reform-bill-preserves-employee-bonuses-1.296911

Moran Introduced Legislation to Research Health of Descendants of Vets Exposed to Toxins

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) has introduced legislation to research the health conditions of descendants of veterans who were exposed to toxins during their military service. The Toxic Exposure Research Act of 2014, which is supported by the Vietnam Veterans of America and AMVETS, would establish a national center for research on the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions stemming from exposure to toxins such as Agent Orange in Vietnam, Gulf War neurotoxins, burn pits in Iraq and other chemicals from recent overseas conflicts. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) joined Sen. Moran in introducing the legislation.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.hayspost.com/2014/08/04/moran-introduced-legislation-to-research-health-of-descendants-of-vets-exposed-to-toxins/

McDonald must clean house at VA, experts say

Bob McDonald, President Barack Obama’s pick to head up the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs, faces such a hidebound bureaucracy that experts say the way forward is clear: He must clean house.

“McDonald has to walk in and kind of dismantle all of those structures that would keep the culture in the same place,” according to Todd Henshaw, the director of executive leadership programs at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. “If you’ve been in an organization that’s failed across the board the way the VA has, the writing is on the wall and probably a lot of the senior people have to go … He’s going to need some people coming in from the outside” with “some experience and some success leading organizations through turnarounds and transformations.”

Continue Learning>>>http://www.stripes.com/news/mcdonald-must-clean-house-at-va-experts-say-1.294510

OPINION: VA Scandal 2014

I don’t know why anyone is surprised about trouble at some VA facilities. We have World War II and Korean War veterans passing at a quick rate, many using VA faculties in their final days. Every Vietnam veteran with boots on the ground was exposed to Agent Orange, possible prostate cancer, millions, and we’re all at that “age!”

And now we have many thousands of men and women who served in Afghanistan and Iraq using the VA system at an unprecedented rate because of a good campaign specifically aimed at getting new veterans to file claims for “service connected” injuries upon return from deployment, to get in the system! And then add in for bad measure corrupt VA employees endangering veterans through their greed!

Continue Learning>>>http://www.htrnews.com/story/opinion/readers/2014/07/25/panel-discussion/13182997/

Protesters lie under ambulance during eviction of war vet

After a brief reprieve from an eviction, the King County Sheriff’s Office removed a disabled Vietnam veteran and his family from their West Seattle home, but this time, activists staged what they called an “eviction blockade” and blocked an ambulance outside the home.

Activists from the organization Standing Against Foreclosure and Eviction stood on the porch and chanted when a deputy arrived to serve the court-ordered eviction notice to Jean and Byron Barton again on Friday.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/protesters-lay-under-ambulance-stop-eviction-war-v/ngh2D/

As a good man lies dying: A story of life and Vietnam

Its cruelty to American servicemen who survived the war is continuing even now, compounded by a Department of Veterans Affairs that chronically leaves vets to suffer and die undiagnosed and untreated. Of 500,000 vets who died between 2000 and 2007, 58 percent were younger than 60. The veterans of Vietnam are dying young. It is not hard to figure out one big reason why.

Agent Orange was an unmitigated evil, I had firmly believed.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.azcentral.com/story/dougmaceachern/2014/07/18/agent-orange-vietnam-roney/12865347/

Veterans waiting longer for cancer care, researchers say

On August 8, 2012, a pathology report found that a growth on Mitchell's neck was "concerning" for cancer. The recommendation: "total excision," meaning surgical removal.

But Mitchell's tumor wasn't removed until October 22, more than 2½ months later.

Ten months after that, Mitchell was dead. He was 63.

The VA Medical Center in Dallas tells CNN that Mitchell's 75-day wait to have the cancer taken out of his body "meets the standard of care" at the VA.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.kspr.com/news/health/veterans-waiting-longer-for-cancer-care/21051714_26986918

VETERAN waiting to die as VA Directs Wife to Voicemail

Veterans Need To Take Ownership Over Their Health Care

The bigger problem is the absence of a coherent co-payment system to incentivize veterans to think through their health care decisions. Contrary to conventional wisdom, VA health care is free only to veterans with severe, service-related conditions. Abyzantine co-insurance system exists in which the cost of care is linked to the severity of a veteran’s condition and the degree to which the condition is service-related. Veterans additionally receive a monthly tax-free cash payment based on the severity of their service-related health condition. The result is that veterans face perverse incentives to let their health deteriorate to the point where they can avoid copayments and receive higher monthly financial support. Reform should focus on redesigning VA co-insurance to give veterans incentives to embrace preventive care and take greater ownership over their health care decisions.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/06/27/veterans-need-to-take-ownership-over-their-health-care/

USFK sprayed defoliant from 1955 to 1995, new testimony suggests

An official U.S. government document confirms that the country’s military sprayed defoliant in South Korea for a far longer period than had previously been officially stated.

According to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) document obtained by the Hankyoreh on Sunday (local time), the period during which defoliant was sprayed in South Korea was recorded internally as being from 1962 to 1970.

Continue Learning>>>http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/480550.html

Those who served offshore should not be denied care

Many people believe all Vietnam veterans injured in the war receive health care from Veterans Affairs hospitals. This is not true. Any veteran who served offshore Vietnam is denied health care and compensation for any disease or disability caused by Agent Orange-dioxin.

These veterans are dying of the same conditions as troops who served on land, from the cancers, diabetes and heart diseases related to dioxin poisoning. The Australian navy, which served at the same time in the same waters off Vietnam, recognizes this fact. Why doesn’t our VA?

Continue Learning>>>http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/letter-those-who-served-offshore-should-not-be-denied-care-20140608

Manteca veteran shares his VA hospital snafu story

In light of what happened in the Phoenix VA Hospital and what is happening around the nation, I felt I must tell my story. I am a Vietnam veteran and have several Agent Orange related health issues. In 2007 I had a baseball sized tumor removed from my shoulder at the Mather Airbase Hospital in Sacramento. The surgery went well and I received great care there, but I was advised I would need a complete shoulder replacement surgery. It would have to be performed in  Palo Alto, I was told.

Jump ahead to March 2013. I went to Palo Alto’s VA Hospital and did a CT sand and MRI and was immediately prepped for surgery. Then  they told me to return the next day (Friday). On Friday I was told to return Monday. They informed me Monday that there was no surgeon available to perform the surgery and sent me home with pain pills and recommended I exercise the shoulder. It was a  shoulder that was continually popping out of the socket.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.mantecabulletin.com/section/37/article/107204/

VA chief: 100,000 vets were on fake wait lists

More than 100,000 of America's military veterans were victims of bogus waiting lists for medical appointments, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs inquiry, and acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said the nation will learn Monday how many patients in each city were relegated to "secret lists."

During a news conference Thursday at the Carl T. Hayden Medical Center in Phoenix, where the VA scandal erupted, Gibson also disclosed that at least 18 Arizona veterans died while waiting for doctor appointments, though it remains unclear whether delayed care was to blame for the deaths.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/06/06/va-chief-vets-fake-wait-lists/10053681/

Why Veterans Affairs Can’t Root Out Its Corruption

Eric Shinseki may be gone, but there are still indefensible civil service rules in place that put failing bureaucrats' job security ahead of the safety of the veterans they should be serving.

The independent VA Inspector General’s report was brutal in its assessment. Department officials at the Phoenix VA Health Care System used tricks to hide months-long delays faced by veterans seeking appointments. This fraud increased hospital administrators’ chances of netting cash bonuses and salary increases while jeopardizing veterans’ health, the report implied. According to the IG, similar scams are taking place at VA hospitals throughout the country.

Continue Learning>>>

http://time.com/2809158/veterans-affairs-scandal-eric-shinseki/

Senators reach deal on VA health care

The legislation would streamline executive firings, expand access to outside health care for rural veterans, hire more doctors and nurses, and look at ways to improve VA computer systems.

It was a hard-fought compromise between Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who both floated VA reform bills to help solve a widening scandal over patient scheduling abuses and veteran deaths. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who sponsored a bill solely on firing VA executives, said Thursday he also supports the compromise.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.stripes.com/senators-reach-deal-on-va-health-care-1.287241

DoD report: Many troops who commit suicide have seen doctor

Nearly two-thirds of active-duty troops who died by suicide in 2012 were seen by a doctor within three months before taking their own lives, and one-third told someone of their plans, according to a Defense Department report released Friday.

Forty-two percent had at least one mental health diagnosis, and one in five were prescribed a psychiatric medication sometime in the 90 days before they died, according to the 2012 DoD Suicide Event Report.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20140425/NEWS/304250048/DoD-report-Many-troops-who-commit-suicide-seen-doctor?org=403&lvl=100&ite=9209&lea=964&ctr=0&par=1

VA NEWS>>>VA Controversy, VA Expands Phoenix Hospital Probe, Veterans Fears National VA Problems, Top VA Official Resigns, Want to Fix VA?, VA in Crisis, VA Staffers 'Gaming System', VA Hospital Delays

VA controversy: White House aide heading to Phoenix

A top White House aide assigned to review problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs is going to Phoenix, where CNN reported that fraudulent records -- including secret lists -- covered up allegedly deadly waiting periods for veterans to get care.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday that Rob Nabors, the deputy chief of staff helping the review by Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, will head to Phoenix on Wednesday night to interview the interim director of the VA office and visit the facility.

The American Legion is monitoring alleged VA mismanagement within the 16 states highlighted below. #notjustphoenix

VA Expands Phoenix Hospital Probe Over Long Waits for Appointments

The Department of Veterans Affairs said it has expanded an investigation of a Phoenix hospital where a whistleblower alleges that as many as 40 veterans died amid lengthy waits for appointments.

The VA inspector general's office first received what it termed credible complaints about the Phoenix VA Health Care System from a hotline at the end of 2013, said inspector-general spokeswoman Catherine Gromek, and the office launched a review in January. She declined to identify who made the complaints, and added that the inspector general requires only one credible allegation to begin an investigation.


Veteran fears national VA problems are here in Kentucky

Dan Griffiths is a Vietnam veteran. He believes much of his current ailments stem from exposure to Agent Orange. Throughout the years, he's visited the Lexington VA Medical Center for treatment.

On a national level, veteran's affairs hospital have been under fire after multiple allegations that officials have covered up reports of veterans waiting for months for health care. Those delays may have led to dozens of death.

Top VA official resigns under fire

Robert Petzel, undersecretary for health at the Veterans Affairs Department, resigned on Friday, one day after testifying before a Senate panel.

Petzel, who had been slated to retire later this year, stepped down in the wake of allegations that some VA facilities kept secret wait lists to cover up how long veterans were kept waiting to receive care.

Want to Fix VA Health Care? Get Rid of It

On Thursday VA Secretary Eric Shinseki was grilled by members of Congress about significant and perhaps deadly delays in health care for America’s veterans. Some on Capitol Hill, and some leaders of veterans organizations, have demanded his resignation.

But the problem with the VA is not its boss. It doesn’t matter whether Eric Shinseki stays or goes, or whether he’s done a good job during his five-year tenure in trying to address the VA’s many long-term issues in delivering quality care. The problem is the VA. The medical component of the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to be abolished. We need to shut the doors of the thousands of medical facilities around the country that are failing to serve our veterans.

Veterans Affairs In Crisis: 10 Questions For VA Secretary Eric Shinseki

With the scandal growing, Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) and the American Legion have called for Shinseki’s resignation — not out of hostility toward the secretary, but because we believe replacing the department’s top leader will send a clear message that no one should be above accountability. And Shinseki has a lot to answer for. In Phoenix, a VA whistleblower alleges that at least 40 veterans died while on a secret “interim” wait list for medical appointments, and there are credible allegations that VA employees attempted to destroy evidence of the secret list. Similar revelations of falsified data and corrupt record-keeping have arisen in Colorado, Texas and Wyoming.

Memos Show VA Staffers Have Been 'Gaming System' for Six Years

Internal memos show the VA has been playing whack a mole for at least six years with employees who use dozens of different scheduling tricks to hide substantial delays in health care for America’s veterans. And whenever the VA tries to stop its staffers from “gaming the system,” the staffers come up with new techniques.

Whistleblowers around the country are now accusing the VA of hiding a backlog in patient care with bookkeeping tricks, and a former doctor at a VA facility in Arizona says the delays may have contributed to the deaths of 40 patients.

Staff at embattled Phoenix VA pocketed bonuses, hefty salaries

Employees at the embattled Phoenix office of the Department of Veterans Affairs have been making millions in higher-than-average salaries and bonuses, according to federal records reviewed by Fox News. 

Veterans Affairs Hospital Delays

Veterans Affairs declares Jacksonville veteran dead, but he's not

Wife receives letter of sympathy, notice of monthly benefit cancellation

Jacksonville resident Georgie Smith received a letter from the Veterans Affairs office last week offering her condolences on the death of her husband, Vietnam veteran Steve Smith.

The problem was her husband is very much alive.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.news4jax.com/news/veterans-affairs-declares-jacksonville-veteran-dead-but-hes-not/26060676