As everyone who follows this blog knows, it is a weekly blog. And for the last three weeks, it has been missing from your inboxes! This is because I have been in South Korea, attending the wedding of the little guy featured below. (Who, as you can see, is no longer a “little guy.”). This is my brother, Bryan, who for the last five years has been in Korea teaching English. And the USA gets him back permanently this month!
Because I have neglected my readers (and for that, I do apologize), below is a summary of the news I would have covered had I not been otherwise engaged. Dear readers, know this neglect was unintentional, unavoidable, and will not happen again!
Now for the news…
- VA Employee Indicted. A 50-count Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment, recently unsealed in federal court, has charged a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employee at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia with crimes related to his alleged falsification of medical records of numerous VA patients. The indictment alleges that Mr. Cathedral Henderson terminated unresolved consults – medical appointments that had not been scheduled or completed – by falsely stating in VA patients’ medical records that “services have been completed or patient refused services.” As a result of the indictment, the VA has terminated Mr. Henderson’s access to all of VA’s systems and placed him on administrative leave for the time being.
- Increase in Vet Wait Times Not VA’s Fault? One year after the VA Phoenix scandal sparked national outrage, the number of veterans on wait lists to receive medical care is 50 percent higher than at the same time last year, according to VA data. HOWEVER, these stats may not be wholly the VA’s fault – its leadership attributed the growing wait times to soaring demand from veterans for medical services, brought on by the opening of new centers and a combination of: aging Vietnam veterans seeking care, the return of younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, and the exploding demand for new and costly treatments for Hepatitis C. The embattled VA says that its vast health-care system has handled 2.7 million more appointments than in any previous year, and has increased its capacity by more than 7 million patient visits per year, double what they anticipated, the New York Times reported this summer.
- McDonald’s Happy Meal May Come from Veterans Choice Program. VA Secretary Robert McDonald has consistently represented that the end of next week, he expects Congress will endorse transferring up to $3 billion from the Veterans Choice program to close the VA’s budget gap. He also testified this week before the House Veterans Affairs committee on the need for lawmakers to close a $2.5 billion shortfall, which has been driven over the past year by a big increase in demand among veterans for health care services. (The affected Veterans Choice program is a temporary benefit that allows eligible Veterans to receive health care in their communities rather than waiting for a VA appointment or traveling to a VA facility. You can learn more about the program here, as well as read complaints that it in effect is impossible to use here).
Hopefully next week I can report on more positive news from the VA. Thanks for reading!
Cute pictures!! Man, where does all the time fly? 😉