Showing posts with label Veterans Affairs Scandal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Veterans Affairs Scandal. Show all posts

Friday, May 29, 2015

How Many Have Been Fired?

May 29, 2015 Dave Boyer , Phoenix VA Hospital 0 Comments
Phoenix VA Hospital Troubles Persist A Year After Phony Wait Times Scandal 

By Dave Boyer, May 28, 2015, The Washington Times

A year after the scandal over phony wait times at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital exposed widespread problems in the agency nationwide, employees say troubles at the Arizona facility are still rampant, including whistleblower retaliation, neglect of suicidal veterans and suspected fraud in overtime pay.

The top financial officer at the Phoenix VA has filed a lawsuit claiming that other administrators there orchestrated an unlawful search of her office and accused her of sexual misconduct after she blew the whistle about mismanagement. She said the stressful work atmosphere led her to overdose on painkillers.

Internal VA emails obtained by The Washington Times indicate that top administrators in Phoenix were aware of potential fraud involving exorbitant overtime pay for a 75-year-old suicide prevention counselor who was billing the agency for as much as 55 hours of overtime per pay period, sometimes while he was supposedly working at separate locations at the same time. The questions of suspected fraud and unsafe patient care have attracted the attention of investigators on the staff of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican.

Read the full story: www.washingtontimes.com

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Sunday, February 1, 2015

One day after "blanket denial"

February 01, 2015 Denver VA Hospital , Veterans Affairs Scandal 0 Comments
VA Admits To 'Unauthorized' Waiting List At Denver Hospital

By WFMY News, Jan. 30, 2015

DENVER – Denver VA Hospital officials reversed course Thursday, admitting their employees broke the rules when they used an improper wait list in the sleep lab in 2012. This comes just one day after the VA made a blanket denial of the existence of secret waiting lists in Denver.

9Wants to Know spent months looking into a whistleblower's allegations regarding the sleep lab, which performs diagnostic testing for disorders - including potentially deadly sleep apnea.

"I think that putting my neck out for fellow veterans in this instance is the right thing to do," said whistleblower Tommy Belinski.

Belinski worked for the VA from 2011 to 2014. For part of the time, his boss was the hospital's chief administrator.

"The health administration cannot make data-driven decisions that are needed to better service veterans without the proper documentation, without the proper data," Belinski said.

Belinski tells 9Wants to Know he was given a copy of a manual list containing 508 unscheduled sleep clinic patients, and he says he was instructed to transfer the names onto the VA's official Electronic Wait List (EWL) in May 2012. Keeping a manual wait list would have been a violation of VA policy at that time, according to records 9Wants To Know obtained.

Read the full story:  www.wfmynews2.com

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Thursday, November 13, 2014

No bias here!

November 13, 2014 Barack Obama , Brent Bozell 0 Comments
MRC's Brent Bozell Schools CNN Host On Utter Lack Of Obama Scandal News 

NB Staff, Nov. 9, 2014, Newsbusters

Media Research Center president Brent Bozell appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday to discuss liberal tilt in midterm election coverage (the first tilt being the lack of coverage on ABC, CBS, and NBC as Democrats looked like they were in trouble in the polls). 

CNN host Brian Stelter tried to suggest Bozell and President Obama could agree that there is a bias, since Obama thinks there is a bias toward covering conflict.

Read more: www.newsbusters.org

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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

No repercussions?

October 21, 2014 Pete Kasperowics , Theblaze.com 0 Comments
After Lying Congress, VA Caught Hiding Truth From American Legion

By Pete Kasperowics, Oct. 20. 2014, Theblaze.com

A report late last week said the Department of Veterans Affairs purposefully withheld information from the country’s largest veterans’ group about how many veterans were still waiting for a decision about their eligibility for VA health care.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the American Legion — which has 2.4 million members — asked the VA’s national Health Eligibility Center in 2013 how many veterans were waiting on the VA for an eligibility decision. But in response, deputy chief business officer Lynne Harbin prepared slides that purposefully did not answer the question.

In an email to staff obtained by the paper, Harbin wrote, “I don’t think I want to go into the total number of pending records and will try to skirt the issue, should they try to raise it.”

When that email was read by the Journal-Constitution to Roscoe Butler, an official with the American Legion, Butler replied, “wow.”

Earlier this year, VA officials were caught lying to members of Congress, which made some worry that if the VA will lie to Congress, they will lie to just about anybody.

Read the full story:  www.theblaze.com

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Monday, August 11, 2014

What "inept, corrupt" officials?

August 11, 2014 Department of Veterans Affairs , Veterans Affairs Scandal 0 Comments
VA Not Rushing To Fire Inept, Corrupt Officials

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman 
Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., is asking about the VA’s plans
 to fire employees, but has come up empty so far. 
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
By Pete Kasperowics, Aug. 11, 2014, Theblaze.com

The Department of Veterans Affairs has offered few indications in the last few weeks that it’s willing to move aggressively to fire incompetent or corrupt officials involved in the VA health care scandal, and so far is keeping Congress in the dark about its plans.

These signs are leading some to worry that few officials will be punished for the scandal that left thousands of veterans waiting months or even years for health care appointments.

In late July, the VA announced that it might discipline six officials, but it declined to name them, and indicated that only two of them may be fired.

That vague announcement prompted House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) to ask the VA’s Office of Inspector General for details about these six officials. But as of Monday, the IG had yet to respond to Miller’s July 31 letter, according to a House aide.

Miller also asked new VA Secretary Robert McDonald on July 30 for a weekly update on all disciplinary actions taken against VA officials, something that Miller asked for earlier in the summer.

“I requested that the VA begin providing the committee with weekly updates on all adverse employment actions being initiated against VA employees, officials and contractors,” Miller wrote. “I requested that the first production of such information be provided to the committee by Friday, June 6, 2014. To date, we have received no information regarding this request.”

Miller’s letter asked for weekly updates to begin on August 8, but the House aide said the VA has yet to comply.

The slow start to the firing process comes despite recent evidence that many VA officials were involved in the scandal. In late July, Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.) said she learned that more than half of the employees surveyed were told to manipulate veterans’ health care wait times in Central Alabama, and that one doctor manipulated 1,200 patient records to pretend tests were done that never took place.

Read the full story: www.theblaze.com

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