VA orders review of 1,400 clinics

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON - The VA is ordering its 1,400 hospitals and clinics to report on the quality of their facilities to determine if squalid conditions found at Walter Reed exist elsewhere.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson issued the directive in an internal memorandum sent last week to the VA's medical center directors. He said "recent events" compelled him to redouble efforts to improve the physical environment at outpatient center and medical facilities.

"I am directing you hereby to conduct and supervise a full and immediate review of your facility's environments of care," Nicholson wrote in the March 7 memorandum, which was obtained Monday. The memo asks for a full report by March 14.

~snip~

Nicholson's moves come in the wake of disclosures of roach-infested conditions and shoddy outpatient care at Walter Reed Medical Center, one of the nation's premier facilities for treating those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It also comes as Democrats newly in charge of Congress have questioned whether Nicholson, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, is up to the job of revitalizing a veterans care system beset with bureaucratic delays and poor coordination.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070313/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/vets_medical_care




NYT: Veterans Face Vast Inequities Over Disability
~snip~

Veterans face serious inequities in compensation for disabilities depending on where they live and whether they were on active duty or were members of the National Guard or the Reserve, an analysis by The New York Times has found.

Those factors determine whether some soldiers wait nearly twice as long to get benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs as others, and collect less money, according to agency figures.

“The V.A. is supposed to provide uniform and fair treatment to all,” said Steve Robinson, the director of veteran affairs for Veterans for America. “Instead, the places and services giving the most are getting the least.”

The agency said it was trying to ease the backlog and address disparities by hiring more claims workers, authorizing more overtime and adding claims development centers.

more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/washington/09veterans.html?ref=todayspaper

Problems at other VA facilities, panel told
POSTED: 9:19 a.m. EST, March 9, 2007
Story Highlights• Testimony paints picture of neglect and bureaucratic delays at VA facilities
• Ex-official: Plan shelved to fix problems between VA, Defense departments
• VA chief wasn't behind move to abandon program, VA official tells House panel
• Ex-official also says he received no response after warning about surge in claims
Adjust font size:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A program to fix bureaucratic breakdowns between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments was shelved soon after VA Secretary Jim Nicholson took office, according to a former VA official.

Paul Sullivan, a former VA project manager, also told a House panel looking into problems with veterans care that in August 2005 he warned officials there would be a surge in claims as veterans returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I made those warnings on several occasions," he said, but never received a response.

Testimony from Sullivan and the Government Accountability Office painted a picture of neglect, bureaucratic delays and poor coordination in the nation's vast network of 1,400 VA hospitals and clinics.

Lawmakers from both parties expressed outrage.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/09/vet.medical.care.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest


Major CYA from Nicholson....too bad he didn't have the the forethought to order the reviews before or the day the hearing started.

[Karenina]

1. Kick!

:kick:

[badgervan]

2. Too Late

Nicholson has to go. He has been nothing but a buttboy to bush/cheney, with bush's annual cuts in the VA budget fine with him. He never advocates for vets, only for his masters in the White House. Spineless little rat.
I would love to see Max Cleland as Secretary of the VA. This is a man who will fight for vets.

[maddezmom]

3. VA system reaches limit, study says

VA system reaches limit, study says
Investigators say Bush effort to relieve backlog likely will be unsuccessful
By Hope Yen
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - The Veterans Affairs' system for handling disability claims is strained to its limit, and the Bush administration's current efforts to relieve backlogs will not be enough to serve veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, investigators said Tuesday.

In testimony to a House panel, the Government Accountability Office and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes detailed their study into the VA's claims system in light of growing demands created by wars. They found a system on the verge of crisis because of backlogs, cumbersome paperwork and ballooning costs.

The House hearing is the latest to review the quality of care for wounded troops returning from Iraq -- from emergency medical care at military hospitals, to long-term rehabilitation at VA clinics and eventual transition to civilian life with VA disability payments.

According to their findings, the VA:

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/16900527.htm