Veterans Affairs secretary outlines 90-day reform plan for beleaguered agency
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Version 0 of 1. The new US secretary of veteran’s affairs promised less bureaucracy and more transparency in a broad speech outlining reforms, coming after widespread revelations of veterans’ months-long wait for care and data manipulation to cover it up. “I want to personally apologize to all veterans who experienced unacceptable delays in receiving care in Phoenix, Arizona, and across the country,” said Robert McDonald, a former Procter & Gamble chief executive who was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in late July. “We want to look at everything we do through the lens of the veteran, in the end the VA exists to serve them.” Shortly after McDonald’s confirmation, Congress nearly approved a $16.3bn package to reform the agency. Nearly half a dozen federal agencies are still conducting investigations after as many as 40 veterans were alleged to have died while waiting for care at the Phoenix VA. A VA report last month said inspectors had found no proof that delays in care led to veterans deaths McDonald called his broad, 90-day plan to reform the agency the “Road to Veterans Day”, which is 11 November. His first goal, he said, was to “rebuild trust with veterans”, the second to “improve service delivery”, and the third to “set a course for long term excellence”. While McDonald did not offer specific programs that might be changed, he pointed to several practices he views as problematic. The VA’s website, he said, requires 14 different usernames and passwords for veterans to access services, and the agency has nine different geographic organization maps. “If we have work that doesn’t add value to the veteran we’ll simply stop doing it,” said McDonald, part of a reorientation toward the veteran. So far, McDonald said the organization has referred one million veterans to “community and non-VA care” and contacted 294,000 veterans to scheduled appointments. He said 14,000 employee incentive plans have been amended to remove provisions that may have tied bonuses to patient wait-times. One reform McDonald used as an example was a yearly meeting for VA staff to “recommit themselves” to the agency’s mission. McDonald also pledged to flatten bureaucracy, and bring transparency to the VA, going so far as to give out his cellphone number to a room full of reporters. “As I analyzed the organization, my sense was that the culture was too closed,” McDonald said. “We’re working hard to create a climate that embrace constructive dissent … that ensures compliance,” McDonald said. He didn’t outline specific whistleblower protections, but said, that he wanted all employees, “to become a whistleblower in their own way”. Additionally, McDonald said he’s working to recruit healthcare workers to the 340,000-employee agency, looking at possibly matching private-sector wages. McDonald said he believed recent appropriations could cover the reforms. |