Posted on Aug 26, 2014
Establishing realistic, measurable goals for the VA
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We have all been on military missions at some point. Critical to any military mission (to state the obvious) is being very clear on what you are intending to achieve, how you plan to achieve it, how you will define/measure success, and what you plan to do if your circumstances change. Let's use these tenets to deep dive on the VA situation.
Many veterans think the VA situation is a big mess, and that it has been for a long time. Now that new leadership is in place, I challenge the RallyPoint community to come to some professional agreement on what success over time will look like -- realistically. For example, a goal of 100% of veterans getting perfect care with no issues whatsoever is not a realistic goal -- let alone one that can be fully measured anyway. It also doesn't help if you just scream out "The VA needs to change!" without actually saying something intelligent beyond that -- so please contribute meaningful thoughts.
So I am asking the RP community these questions:
(1) What should be the key performance indicators of the VA moving forward? Like what metrics should we use to assess the VA's progress over time?
(2) What is a realistic goal for each of the metrics you have in mind, including over what time period (5 years, 20 years, etc)?
(3) What is the biggest risk you see to the VA achieving each of those goals?
(4) What additional things does the VA need in order to implement your plan?
This is meant to be a professional discussion rooted in critical thinking. Please refrain from hijacking this thread and turning your answer into a political tirade, though it may be reasonable in some cases to defend your politics-related thoughts with fact-based data insights, as long as you stay balanced and mature about it.
Looking fwd to everyone's proposals!
Tag: SGM Matthew Quick 1SG Steven Stankovich SSG Robert Burns Col (Join to see) Capt Brandon Charters 1LT Sandy Annala CMDCM Gene Treants CMC Robert Young
Many veterans think the VA situation is a big mess, and that it has been for a long time. Now that new leadership is in place, I challenge the RallyPoint community to come to some professional agreement on what success over time will look like -- realistically. For example, a goal of 100% of veterans getting perfect care with no issues whatsoever is not a realistic goal -- let alone one that can be fully measured anyway. It also doesn't help if you just scream out "The VA needs to change!" without actually saying something intelligent beyond that -- so please contribute meaningful thoughts.
So I am asking the RP community these questions:
(1) What should be the key performance indicators of the VA moving forward? Like what metrics should we use to assess the VA's progress over time?
(2) What is a realistic goal for each of the metrics you have in mind, including over what time period (5 years, 20 years, etc)?
(3) What is the biggest risk you see to the VA achieving each of those goals?
(4) What additional things does the VA need in order to implement your plan?
This is meant to be a professional discussion rooted in critical thinking. Please refrain from hijacking this thread and turning your answer into a political tirade, though it may be reasonable in some cases to defend your politics-related thoughts with fact-based data insights, as long as you stay balanced and mature about it.
Looking fwd to everyone's proposals!
Tag: SGM Matthew Quick 1SG Steven Stankovich SSG Robert Burns Col (Join to see) Capt Brandon Charters 1LT Sandy Annala CMDCM Gene Treants CMC Robert Young
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VA ClaimStrategic Leadership
VA ClaimStrategic Leadership
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
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Much like SSG Robert Burns states, you need to assess what the root problems are first before you can delve in attempt to come up with COAs for ways ahead and KPIs...
I'm just an old scout at heart and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I do know that if you just throw money at this, all you are going to get are overpaid persons working on the same underlying problems. You have to go in at the ground level, assess what is exactly wrong, and then move to eliminate those issues, one at a time. It needs to be a slow and deliberate process that is sustainable in the long term. Band-aids are not what is needed here. Whatever COAs are agreed upon, they must be sustainable. There should also be methods established for proper oversight to ensure compliance with said COAs and also to ensure that those COAs are continuing to be sustained.
I'm just an old scout at heart and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I do know that if you just throw money at this, all you are going to get are overpaid persons working on the same underlying problems. You have to go in at the ground level, assess what is exactly wrong, and then move to eliminate those issues, one at a time. It needs to be a slow and deliberate process that is sustainable in the long term. Band-aids are not what is needed here. Whatever COAs are agreed upon, they must be sustainable. There should also be methods established for proper oversight to ensure compliance with said COAs and also to ensure that those COAs are continuing to be sustained.
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With the words, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan,” President Lincoln affirmed the government’s obligation to care for those injured during the war and to provide for the families of those who perished on the battlefield.
First, the VA needs to partner with local medical care facilities...a large, bureaucratic organization cannot (and has not) uphold the promises made by our civilian leaders, "To care for him who shall have borne the battle." The problem is bigger than the VA...it's our nation's responsibility to care for our Veterans.
Unfortunately, I am not qualified to answer the specific questions, but a main concern that I see and should be address immediately is REAL ACCOUNTABILITY...criminal charges for those that knowingly and negligently hurt any Veteran.
First, the VA needs to partner with local medical care facilities...a large, bureaucratic organization cannot (and has not) uphold the promises made by our civilian leaders, "To care for him who shall have borne the battle." The problem is bigger than the VA...it's our nation's responsibility to care for our Veterans.
Unfortunately, I am not qualified to answer the specific questions, but a main concern that I see and should be address immediately is REAL ACCOUNTABILITY...criminal charges for those that knowingly and negligently hurt any Veteran.
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I'm going to ask what may be obvious but based off of one of my previous questions along these lines I guess we have to identify that you are specifically talking about the VA Medical side of the house. And the current issues as related to patient waiting list, appointments, and processing VA claims.
So after identify exactly what metrics we are talking about we have look for the root cause before we start talking about solutions. Unfortunately, we have been conditioned through school to have a problem-solution mentality. "I have a problem and here's how to fix it." When we should have a problem-cause-solution mentality. Often times we spend a lot of time, money, and effort on solutions that have nothing to do with the cause.
For example...My car wont start because my batter is dead. (Problem) I need to go to autozone and buy a new battery. Car starts. (Solution) But a week later I'm looking for jumper cables again. Why? Because my alternator belt is slipping and not charging my battery. So I didn't need a new battery even though initially it seemed to fix the problem. It didn't address the cause, which was the belt, which was actually cheaper to fix instead of buying a new battery that I didn't need anyway.
So before we start talking about solutions, let's try to identify the causes of these problems.
So after identify exactly what metrics we are talking about we have look for the root cause before we start talking about solutions. Unfortunately, we have been conditioned through school to have a problem-solution mentality. "I have a problem and here's how to fix it." When we should have a problem-cause-solution mentality. Often times we spend a lot of time, money, and effort on solutions that have nothing to do with the cause.
For example...My car wont start because my batter is dead. (Problem) I need to go to autozone and buy a new battery. Car starts. (Solution) But a week later I'm looking for jumper cables again. Why? Because my alternator belt is slipping and not charging my battery. So I didn't need a new battery even though initially it seemed to fix the problem. It didn't address the cause, which was the belt, which was actually cheaper to fix instead of buying a new battery that I didn't need anyway.
So before we start talking about solutions, let's try to identify the causes of these problems.
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SSgt Gregory Guina
SSG Robert Burns Unfortunately the way the government tries to fix anything is to throw money at it and hire a whole bunch of "professionals".
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