Editorial: VA reforms encouraging, but more changes needed
Veterans should be encouraged by the commitments made last week by new Secretary Robert McDonald to shake up the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The former chief executive officer of Proctor & Gamble says a reformed VA will become a customer service-focused organization that won’t, for example, force veterans to log into as many as 12 websites – each with its own password – to get the information they need about their medical care or their pensions.
McDonald also says he has a list of 35 VA officials who will be fired, and as many as 5,600 more who face some measure of disciplinary action or reprimand. He’s just waiting for department lawyers to tell him how to make whatever action he takes stick. So far, only the head of the VA system in central Alabama has been canned.
From a system with more than 300,000 employees, it will take a lot more than a handful of firings to convince the nation’s 22 million veterans – and taxpayers footing a $154 billion budget – that an ailing health care system is finally getting the medicine it needs. Clearly, accountability long ago succumbed to a culture of indifference that led inexcusably to veterans dying for lack of attention to their physical and mental problems.
At the same time, it should be noted that the VA’s lack of resources means that administrative changes can only accomplish so much. McDonald’s predecessor, Gen. Eric Shinseki, was reluctant to make an issue of this. McDonald is not. He recently told “60 Minutes” the agency needs 28,000 more medical personnel.
On Sunday, USA Today reported, unsurprisingly, that the long waits remain. Up to 10 percent of patients continue to wait more than a month for an appointment. Congressional leaders predictably piled on.
The Spokane Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center recently announced it would end round-the-clock emergency care until spring. Starting in December, hours will be reduced to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. because the hospital doesn’t have sufficient staff. A physician recently told KHQ-TV that he left VA emergency services because “the workload became too much and the resources too little.”
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers fired off a letter to McDonald seeking an explanation. The answer is obvious.
Congress hasn’t funded VA services to match the challenge. Vietnam veterans are entering the years when they need more health care. Funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars did not include money to pay for the increased demand for VA services from returning troops.
The funding and hiring of the staff needed will be expensive and time-consuming. The VA must do all it can to make its hospitals desirable workplaces because it will be competing with private hospitals and clinics that are also facing a shortage of physicians.
Early indications are that McDonald understands the importance of accountability and the need to reform VA administration. But Congress must show it is ready to stop punching and start helping.