VA fires 4 senior executives in scandal response.

[elleng]

Source: nyt/ap

The Veterans Affairs Department said it is firing four senior executives as officials move to crack down on wrongdoing following a nationwide scandal over long wait times for veterans seeking medical care, and falsified records covering up the delays.

The dismissals are the first since Congress passed a law this summer making it easier for veterans who experience delays to get care outside VA's nationwide network of hospitals and clinics. The law also made it easier for the agency to fire senior officials suspected of wrongdoing, shortening their appeals process to 28 days.

Among those being fired were a top purchasing official at the Veterans Health Administration, directors of VA hospitals in Pittsburgh and Dublin, Georgia, and a regional hospital director in central Alabama, the VA said.

"VA will actively and aggressively pursue disciplinary action against those who violate our values," Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said Monday. "There should be no doubt that when we discover evidence of wrongdoing, we will hold employees accountable."

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/491028e8a78e44548c6efc5040cf5aa1/va-fires-4-senior-executives-scandal-response

[Historic NY]

1. Took long enough, its time to end the bonus' too.

[kelliekat44]

2. Who are these people? I want to see their mug shots. And I hope this is a warning to the SES all

over the government that cronyism, nepotism, favoritism and fraud will be swiftly and harshly punished.

[quakerboy]

3. Id be far more impressed

if someone were to nail these issues to the hides of those responsible for the funding issues.

And the Republican complaining about people leaving the VA with no consequences to go into private industry.. Thats just so loaded in irony. Id love to see him propose a law prohibiting folks from taking a government paycheck, doing morally dubious deals that involve payouts to private industry, and then getting cushy jobs in those private industries. One with some serious teeth

If it passed, Republicans would have a whole lot of sudden last second withdraws from this next election

[Man from Pickens]

4. The primary issue is fraud

People in the system lied to get bonuses that were offered to them. Their responsibility - one for which they were being paid - was to report the truth, whether it was for good or for ill. If the truth was that they couldn't serve veterans in a reasonable amount of time for lack of resources, then that's what needs to be reported. What should absolutely not happen is to pretend that veterans were well served while actually dropping them into a black hole where they would never get the care they deserve. How were we to hold Congress accountable for lack of funding when the people running the system were deliberately hiding the effects thereof?

Above all things, democracy requires that the public gets the information we need to make decisions about who among our representatives is serving us well and not so well. By hiding the information, these VA officials wrongly took that decision out of our hands, and are thus the primary ones to blame for the situation.

[quakerboy]

5. The primary issue is health care(and more) for veterans

I agree that those who committed fraud for personal benefit should be shown the door. And I agree we need transparency within government.

But a few guys padding the numbers at a few locations are not at the heart of the problems. I doubt you would find many within the VA (the majority of staff are there to provide service, not work a desk job) who would say that these are the real problem. The real problem is we fought a war, created a ton of new, damaged, veterans, and then threw them into an already overburdened system without the resources to care for them.

I dunno. Maybe its just because I'm at the VA so regularly, but I never had any doubt that congress was lowballing funding.

[RobinA]

8. Agree

I don't work for the VA, but in a similar situation. The VA has been a disaster for quite some time, as is other public sector health care. This isn't about some individuals committing fraud.

[quakerboy]

10. I dont think we agree

The VA is NOT a disaster. By and large, Ive seen vets get far better care than the majority of elders receiving care via private insurance. The system is overwhelmed and under funded, and it still does better than most. Once you get into the system, it may be a bit slow, but the level of care (particularly for chronic issues) can't be beat. I would love to switch to VA care, or see us expand the VA to care for the entire nation.

The issue is funding. Pure and simple. The labs are scrimping for supplies to run tests. The clinics need more Dr's. they need more locations. These are funding issues. And that is on our congressmen. Who have made it quite clear by their inaction that they either have no idea of the reality or dont give a damn about veterans once they stop being easy political props.

[RobinA]

7. I'm Thinking

you don't work for government.

Truth will be reported in these situations when you have people working there who don't need their jobs. Not saying that's the way it should be, just saying that's the way it is.

[Feral Child]

6. 'Bout

Fucking Time.

[hedgehog]

9. Are these people appointed by the President, part of a semi-permanent

bureaucracy or Civil Service?