In response to the scandal which rocked the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) last year, which included several scathing Inspector General reports regarding wait times, the firings of several high-ranking employees, and the resignation of Secretary Erik Shinseki, two bills designed to reform the broken VA passed the U.S. House of Representatives on March 2, 2015.
The Long-Term Care Veteran Choice Act will give veterans the ability to transfer to a non-VA medical foster home for long-term health care needs instead of staying in a VA facility. This, however, is met with scrutiny from many veterans service organizations, especially the American Legion, which has been vocal about opposing privatization or vouchering out of VA care as a long-term solution. This comes on the heels of a veterans Choice Card, which was established last year to allow veterans facing long wait times or a long drive to a VA facility to go to a private provider.
The second bill will allow the VA Secretary to force senior executives to repay bonuses, a safeguard against the current practice which rewards bonuses despite gross incompetence. The VA paid more than $380,000 in cash bonuses in 2013 to top executives at 38 hospitals that are under investigation for falsifying wait times or where there have been excessive delays in patient care
H.R. 280 would require notifying affected employees before they had to repay the money, and would give them an opportunity for a hearing conducted by the Secretary. But the Secretary’s decision would be final and not subject to review by “any other agency or any court,” according to the text of the bill. The idea is to give the VA chief another tool to punish those engaged in misconduct – in this instance by allowing the department to rescind bonuses those employees have received.
But the legislation does not specify criteria that would be grounds for ordering a repayment, giving the Secretary broad discretion. Also, note that it only applies to those at an executive level – it won’t apply to the vast percentage of VA employees.
If Secretary McDonald wants to make people forget about the unfortunate statement he made last January, implementing this accordingly would be a good way to do so. It would also be wonderful if he could actually fire those individuals responsible, but we all know what kind of red tape that presents. (General rule of thumb regarding government employment: unless you light something on fire, you can’t get fired).
The bills are now before the Senate. Stay tuned for updates.
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Yeah!