I. Executive Summary Over the past years a problem has been brewing at the Department of Veterans Affairs that has impacted its clients. This problem has for the most part been sifting through the Department very silently and was until very recently a casual occurrence of everyday work at Veterans Affairs. I am talking, of course, on the recently discovered problem that has proven to be such scandalous and embarrassing for the Department, the rigging of veteran’s schedules for purposes not pertaining to the betterment of the services or the betterment of the veteran clients. No surprisingly this scandal has taken its toll beginning with the resignation of the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the firing of various …show more content…
II. Issue History 1. Statement & the Impact of the Problem The main problem is that some agencies within the Department of Veterans Affairs across the States have been rigging client schedules in an illegal fashion for different illicit, unprofessional purposes. One can only imagine the disorder that this practice causes. Not only does it wreak havoc on clients that are in need of a health care service but also provide, if not stopped, institutionalization of an illicit practice which in turn breaks down transparency and accountability. It is therefore important that policy-makers and the new heads of the Department act as quickly as possible in order to make critical short-term changes that will eventually make way for long-term goals. One major consequence of this problem is that supervisors were asking staff to alter the scheduling sheets in order to “meet” the fourteen day goal required to attend a veteran (Cohen, 2014). In other words, fourteen days is the appropriate span of time that the local agency has to call up a veteran to provide him/her with the suitable health service. Because of mounting pressures of trying to meet this goal the local agencies, seeing there were too many patients and impediments, made up unofficial lists of those patients they were going to make wait longer and only input those patients they knew could be called up within
The assignment being completed within this report asks the author of said report to answer to a few analysis and review questions pertaining to the Veteran Affairs Administration in the United States, especially as it pertains to their claims processing dilemmas and issues. The author, in order, is asked to analyze the organizational design of the Veterans Administration, analyze the agency's global and international linkages, analyze their human resource goals and frameworks, analyze their training programs and offer two actions the agency can undertake to attract and maintain a qualified workforce. The author is asked to provide five relevant and credible outside sources outside of the sources that support this assignment's content.
Butler, Deputy Director for Health Care, Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Division, The American Legion noted that they have tracked staffing shortages across all VA facilities in the U.S. Which has caused communication breakdowns between medical center staff and management to provide care for our veterans. Mr. Butler cited that the American Legion supports section 2,3,4,5,8,9,11,14 and 15 of the drafted legislation to improve hiring practices at the VA. However the American Legion has concerns with section 7, citing that the VA has over half of their leadership position held by employees on an “interim” basis. If such positions are only needed on an “interim” basis the American Legion wishes to see these positions removed in order to make room for more qualified professionals on a full time
This workload places an additional, demand on Regional Offices (RO) their rating staff, and ultimately fails to capture the requirements placed upon the administration, which could result in an inadequate number of Full Time Equivalents (FTE) to meet rating workload requirements. Moreover, the sizeable non-rating workload obscures the claims requiring a rating decision resulting in aging claims, untimely service to Veterans, poor financial stewardship a degradation of trust and negative public opinion. This is demonstrated by findings from an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report dated June 2014, which revealed a systemic problem with delayed action concerning benefit reduction cases. In this report, the OIG cited policy decisions regarding these reductions as well as a “lack of VARO management oversight” as reasons for the delay in processing these claims. Subsequent reports revealed similar findings at VAROs across the
This paper will attempt to show how the VA’s policy changes regarding opioid treatment has resulted in an increase of ethical dilemmas regarding the care and treatment veterans and how veterans have been impacted. Even though the VA feels it is helping veterans with opioid dependence, the policy changes have had a negative impact on veterans’ interaction with the VA, because veterans can no longer receive opioids via mail and they now require a new, written prescription each month.
Throughout the history of the United States the government has felt a responsibility to care for those who defend the freedom of the United States. This responsibility is to make sure that our veterans have the best care possible when they return home from war. Since its establishment, the Veterans Affairs (VA) has come under fire from all angles, saying that they are not offering the best possible care for our Veterans. Throughout history yellow journalism has been found to destroy some organizations. The VA is an organization who has experienced the effects of yellow journalism and they are trying to recover. The VA is taking the yellow journalism and turning it into constructive criticism in order to improve their services for the United States Veterans.
This report is the result of the contributions of several team members, who conducted site visits, processed and analyzed data, managed team activities, and enabled the Grant Thornton team to execute a rigorous study over a short period of time. The team was led by Grant Thornton, with integral support from team member FTI Consulting, and three independent contractors.
A multitude of investigations were conducted in response to the 2014 VA Scandal with reports and audits showing manipulation of records, long wait times, delays in treatment and overwhelmed caseload by VA practitioners (Wikipedia, n.d., para. 3-7). There are also concerns about the VA’s lack of accountability once
The Department of Veterans Affairs is a government run program to assist the U.S. Veterans who are disabled soldiers. It began when the Pilgrims passed a law that required disabled soldiers to receive benefits from the colony, as early as 1636 (U.S. Dept. of VA, 2014). By 1776, the Continental Congress provided pensions to disabled soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Later, the Veterans assistance program expanded to include benefits and pensions not only for Veterans but also for their widows and dependents. Finally, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) was established in 1865, to form the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, an institution
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ mission statement is to fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan" by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's veterans. The department attempts to fulfill its mission through its Core Values. These values are captured in the acronym “I CARE”. It stands for Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence. The department has a presidential cabinet secretary and is responsible for overseeing all veterans’ affairs on behalf of the United States government. The department has three administrations: Veterans Benefits Administration, Veterans Health Administration and National Cemetery Administration which
The VA System needs a complete over all we are doing a terrible disservices to our veteran’s.
Over the past 15 years, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has seen a dramatic increase in the average degree of disability, growth in the number of compensation recipients, a rise in the number of medical issues claimed and an increased level of complexity of claimed issues. To illustrate this point, prior to the September 2011 terrorist attacks, 333,700 Veterans received compensation at the 70-100 percent level; however, these figures rose to over 1.1 million by the end of 2013. Additionally, since 2009, VA’s disability compensation workload rose 132 percent. This is in large part due to an unprecedented demand resulting from over a decade of war, military downsizing, economic issues, increased outreach, the addition of presumptive conditions and an aging Veteran population.
The Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) has been tasked with providing support and benefits to Veterans after they have completed their service. However, many Veterans are reporting difficulty accessing care due to systematic barriers within the VA’s Veterans Health Administration (Oliver, 2007). Complex eligibility requirements, long wait lists and lack of providers are a few of the issues Veterans are faced with when trying to access health and mental health care. Additionally, studies indicate that veterans, predominantly those from the recent wars in Iran and Iraq, have disproportionately high amounts of mental illness (Shim & Rust, 2013). These same veterans are experiencing difficulty accessing mental health care due to issues around a backlog of healthcare eligibility applications and a shortage of mental health providers through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which operates the Nation’s largest, integrated health care delivery system (APA, 2014). In 2014, at the request of the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated the merit of the allegations of mismanagement at the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) and the Health Eligibility Center (HEC).
However, he Veterans for America have taken to a less popular choice. Instead of completely doing away with the VA, the Veterans for America request a change in them instead. The priorities have been sorted in a list of ten that also serve as instructions. First off is the rule that veterans must come first, not the VA. This is the most important rule. They believe that the care and funding of veteran health should be the first priority. The second priority refocuses on veteran service for those with disabilities and specialized needs. The third is the improvement of the VA, or more specifically the improvement of how the VA work-such as dealing with the timing and quality of care. The fourth and fifth priorities deals with the allowing of choice concerning from who and where the veterans receive their health care from. They believe the veteran has a right to choose. Following suit, the sixth, seventh, and eighth priorities again drills upon the Veteran Affairs by suggesting reform on thing such as the possibilities of health care on their budget, veterans’ demographics, and the cycle of their ‘standard operating procedures.’ They also note that the reform of such things will require bipartisan vision, courage, and commitment-to which they state in their ninth priority and how to implement it. The tenth -but by far not the least important-priority is to hold the VA accountable for all
One of the most serious problems facing all veterans today is the lack of proper healthcare. Soldiers, sailors and airmen are leaving active duty without having proper healthcare to cover their physical or mental injuries. The department responsible for veteran’s healthcare is the Department of Veterans Affairs. (VA) According to The department of Veterans Affairs website, “The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is responsible for administering programs of veterans’ benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors. The benefits provided include disability compensation, pension, education, home loans, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation, survivors’ benefits, medical benefits and burial benefits. It is administered by the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.” The VA, who was formerly called the Veterans Administration, was established 21 July 1930, to consolidate and coordinate government activities affecting war veterans. The VA encompassed the functions of the former U.S. Veterans ' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. On 25 October 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a new federal Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs to replace the Veterans Administration effective 15 March 1989 (V.A.)
This court works to help veterans avoid the traditional criminal system by providing those suffering with alcoholism, substance abuse, and mental-health issues with treatment, support, training, and housing. Judge Russell assigns each veteran a mentor, who is also a veteran from the same branch of service, who acts as a coach and motivator, helping to keep the rehabilitation process on track (“Leave no,” 2011).