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Five hundred and fourteen days. That’s how long it took to get the emergency department at the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center in my home state of Kansas reopened after it was closed in 2013 due to a staffing shortage.
Only after numerous phone calls, letters, meetings and more were we able to navigate through the bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs. For nearly two years, our veterans in Topeka and across Kansas were left without emergency facilities in the face of VA immovability, lacking the care they are owed and deserve.
This is a story told across the country. The VA remains inefficient, unaccountable and completely lacking transparency. One in three veterans seeking VA care have died while waiting, equating to hundreds of thousands of lives.
We promise the brave men and women fighting for our country that if you take care of us, we will take care of you. It’s a unanimous principle nationwide, yet for too many veterans, the sad reality is the VA fails time and again to provide the necessary care.
An unaccountable VA, lost in the bureaucracies of Washington, fails to hold accountable employees who do not perform. Before coming to Congress, I spent 20 years working as a certified public accountant. I knew that if I didn’t do my job well, I could expect consequences. But for too many VA officials, there is no downside to incompetence. Getting the firing process started takes an average of six months to a year — all while veterans continue to suffer the impacts of VA mismanagement.
Read more at ...
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/opinion/2015/07/29/commentary-veterans-deserve-accountable-va/30822629/
Only after numerous phone calls, letters, meetings and more were we able to navigate through the bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs. For nearly two years, our veterans in Topeka and across Kansas were left without emergency facilities in the face of VA immovability, lacking the care they are owed and deserve.
This is a story told across the country. The VA remains inefficient, unaccountable and completely lacking transparency. One in three veterans seeking VA care have died while waiting, equating to hundreds of thousands of lives.
We promise the brave men and women fighting for our country that if you take care of us, we will take care of you. It’s a unanimous principle nationwide, yet for too many veterans, the sad reality is the VA fails time and again to provide the necessary care.
An unaccountable VA, lost in the bureaucracies of Washington, fails to hold accountable employees who do not perform. Before coming to Congress, I spent 20 years working as a certified public accountant. I knew that if I didn’t do my job well, I could expect consequences. But for too many VA officials, there is no downside to incompetence. Getting the firing process started takes an average of six months to a year — all while veterans continue to suffer the impacts of VA mismanagement.
Read more at ...
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/opinion/2015/07/29/commentary-veterans-deserve-accountable-va/30822629/
Posted in these groups: 
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 24
Suspended Profile
Civil service protections; mass bureaucracy, civilians who don't understand the military, etc etc etc, oh and a CONgress and White House who don't put proper emphasis...
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The fault falls on us all we elect all the decision makers and then set them free to do as they please, once we get together as a vocal minority and use the press and social media to shame and expose those elected to make them do their job. Also we can expose those administrator that make the decisions.
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The VA is better than its ever been...but, its not as good as it is going to get.
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What I found interesting is that many of the same leaders in VA Central Office are still large and in charge. They have endured enough to help transition the new Deputy Secretary and the new Secretary to their way of thinking.
Many of the comments made herein are on point. While the unions have created some challenges, I didn't find the unions to be at fault. I found the liberal court system has created the frustration for managers and supervisors to fire staff. The courts have set the bar so high that many supervisors and managers don't have enough time in their day to document the problems with each and every employee. It's not enough to say I told the employee to do it, now it's required to show in writing where you instructed the employee and how did you confirm that the employee understood. Just because it's in policy and they initialed the policy as an indication they read the policy, did you as a supervisor test their knowledge to see that they understood the policy? Did you have them demonstrate it, was that in writing. If not, give them a pass and document, document, document and when all else fails, document some more.
Many of the comments made herein are on point. While the unions have created some challenges, I didn't find the unions to be at fault. I found the liberal court system has created the frustration for managers and supervisors to fire staff. The courts have set the bar so high that many supervisors and managers don't have enough time in their day to document the problems with each and every employee. It's not enough to say I told the employee to do it, now it's required to show in writing where you instructed the employee and how did you confirm that the employee understood. Just because it's in policy and they initialed the policy as an indication they read the policy, did you as a supervisor test their knowledge to see that they understood the policy? Did you have them demonstrate it, was that in writing. If not, give them a pass and document, document, document and when all else fails, document some more.
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Accountability is key. A cush cabinet secretary position that becomes a revolving door with every other scandal that rocks the VA isn't getting it done. If the buck truly stops at the top and if the person currently sitting in that chair is content to subvert the American government through the use of Executive Orders, how about abusing those powers for the greater good? Call a "blue ribbon panel of experts" to determine where the fault(s) lie(s) and let the heads roll by executive decree.
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Too many issues to count and too many people to place blame on. The entire VA hierarchy needs a shame up and then some kind of strict monitoring processes need to be in place to keep the system from getting out of hand in the future. Veterans deserve a better program. I hope that when its time for me to retire, that the entire system is better than it is now.
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Now that is tragic to read. Lord have Mercy on those who gave the best years of their life and health in Uniform, and prized later on in
poison and left to rot on their own
without appropriate medical attention. Shame on you VA
poison and left to rot on their own
without appropriate medical attention. Shame on you VA
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