VA Consulting Report

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was founded in 1930, and today, “operates one of the largest health care delivery systems in the nation, with 168 medical centers and more than 1,000 outpatient facilities organized into regional networks” (GAO, 2017). The VA employs nearly 350,000 people at its facilities and serves approximately 9 million veterans each year (VA, 2017).

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.)

In the past few years there has been increasing discussion about how to provide adequate care for the increasing number of veterasn who are eligible for care through the Veterans’ healthcare administration (VHA). There are concerns is that the VHA is not providing the level of access, efficiency, and quality of care that veterans expect. Lee & Begley, (2016) suggest access to care for the veteran population may be resulting in poor health outcomes. In response to these concerns, the Veterans ' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act (VACAA) of 2014, also known as the Veterans Choice Act, was created to improve Veterans’ healthcare. The VACAA proposed to do this by expanding the number of options veterans have for receiving healthcare, by providing access for healthcare at non-VA care centers as well as providing for an increase in staffing at VA facilities (U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2016).

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 goal of the V.A. is to provide quality and timely service to all veterans. The current budget deficit has made it increasingly difficult for the V.A. to provide the aforementioned services to the veterans. According to Thomas B. Edsall, in his article about veteran healthcare, “Clinics are shutting down, and appointments delayed” (Edsall 1). In both its old and new forms, the VA drew its mission statement from an extract of President Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address: “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan” (V.A.) this means that the VA’s ultimate purpose is to take care of veterans.

The Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) is a public organization that is government provided. The organization funding is produce through taxes. The executive branch of the agency is located in Washington DC and is headed by Secretary of Veteran Affairs. There are Veteran Affairs Offices located in all 50 states, including American Samoa, District of Columbia, Guam, North Marianas Islands, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands. It ranks number two in the United States federal department with over 200,000 employees.

In recent years, the Veterans Benefits Administration has found itself defending against a tsunami of negative public opinion, unrelenting media coverage and has suffered from a contentious relationship with the U.S. Congress. While the administration has made enormous strides in reducing the claims backlog, improving quality and undertaking the largest technological transformation in its history, the agency as a whole has not transformed its leadership practices and has neglected to learn from its failures. This has resulted in an erosion of trust both within the Veteran population and with external stakeholders alike. In order to restore the trust and respect of Veterans and reestablish public trust, the agency must transform itself into a learning organization, practice sound financial stewardship, focus on incremental improvements, act with a sense of urgency and reduce potential exposure to significant media events.

I agree with you. The Department of Veteran Affairs has failed many veterans. Moreover, as you stated, with the bureaucratic system that exists, and each change within legislation the agency has had a very difficult time adapting to the change. Furthermore, I attest to your thoughts on these changes in legislation, regulations, political influences, and unrealistic public expectations do contribute to the ineffectiveness of the programs offered by any one of the federal agencies.

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a government-run military veteran benefit system that provides essential financial and medical assistance to veterans and their families that are located all over the world. (www.va.gov) As the country and the military’s needs change, the VA needs to continue to evolve and grow. With this thought in mind, it is necessary to understand how the department is coping with the many different challenges that they are currently facing to effectively address the current issues and policy pitfalls. The most critical issues presently facing the VA, is the concern over long increasing wait-times and backlogs for services, which have emerged since 9/11 and are primarily the result of the growing

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

The lives of Americans can be different today if our Veterans had not served our country because without Veterans America would have not been the same.Thanks to the Veterans we have our freedom. All of the Veterans sacrificed their life for us and our family. A Lot of people defined Veterans in their own words but I defined them as heros for our country.

In 1917, as the United States entered World War I, Congress established a system that addressed Veterans benefits which included programs for disability compensation, insurance for service members and Veterans as well as rehabilitative treatments for those that were disabled (www.va.gov). Three years later, 3 separate federal agencies: the Veterans Bureau, Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers were charged with administering these benefits and services (www.va.gov). Then, in 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed an Executive Order which consolidated these agencies to a federal administration level and created the Veterans Administration (www.va.gov). Almost seventy years later, in 1989, the Veterans Administration was then renamed the Department of Veterans Affairs (www.va.gov). The purpose for establishing the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) has always been, since inception, and remains to this day, to provide a comprehensive system of assistance for Veterans (www.va.gov). As noble a purpose as the VA was intended, the VA could not escape the bureaucratic dysfunction that has rocked the very core of the military community, the nation and the Western allies with outrage and an immediate call for remedy.

Ever since July 4th, 1776, the vision of the United States has been to constantly improve the government and society in any way possible. Many historical things have happened since that date; slavery was abolished, civil and women’s rights have been signed into law, and just this summer, marriage equality has been made federal law. Despite the efforts to make the United States of America the land of opportunity and equality, people tend to forget about the people who made it possible for the United States to remain the “land of the free”, our U.S. veterans. Our U.S. veterans, over the years, have been treated not like they should have. Veterans have had social security benefits taken from them by the government in secrecy, and bad-mouthed in

Congress established the Veterans Bureau in 1921 to provide assistance to World War I Veterans, however it was abolished nine years later due to corruption. The Veterans Administration (VA) was created in 1930 to take its place and care for Veterans. In the efforts to establish the VA to assist veterans was still not successful the second time around. Ten thousand WWI veterans protested in Washington 1932 after not receiving war bonuses they were promised and in 1945 VA Administrator Frank Hines resigned (Pearson, 2014). In 1947 a government commission on reforming government uncovers enormous waste, duplication and inadequate care (Pearson, 2014). In 1981, in Wadsworth Veterans Medical Center in Los Angeles a former Marine who had rammed the hospital 's lobby with his Jeep and fired shots into the wall after claiming the VA had failed to attend to his service-related disabilities and committed suicide (Pearson, 2014).

Andrew JordanThe brave men and women who serve and protect the U.S. come from all walks of life; they are parents, children and grandparents. They are friends, neighbors and coworkers, and an important part of their communities. Their are approximately 23.2 million military veterans in the U.S. Here are some facts about the current veteran population of the United States.