Granny says, "Dat's right - the more things change, the more they remain the same...
2 Controversial VA Directors Back on the Job
Feb 22, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- Two controversial directors involved in a hiring-system scheme at the Department of Veterans Affairs were back on the job Monday, after a decision to reassign them was overturned by an appeals board.
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VA Boosts Budget to Tackle Outstanding Healthcare Claims from Vets
Feb 09, 2016 | The Veterans Affairs Department is requesting a budget of $182 billion next year, a nearly $20 billion funding increase designed in part to tackle outstanding health care claims from veterans. The proposed spending plan unveiled on Tuesday includes nearly $103.6 billion for mandatory programs such as disability compensation and pensions, and more than $78 billion in discretionary funding -- mostly for health care.
2 Controversial VA Directors Back on the Job
Feb 22, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- Two controversial directors involved in a hiring-system scheme at the Department of Veterans Affairs were back on the job Monday, after a decision to reassign them was overturned by an appeals board.
Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson announced the reinstatement of Philadelphia VA Regional Office director Diana Rubens and St. Paul (Minn.) VA Regional Office director Kimberly Graves. He visited Philadelphia to hold two town hall meetings with employees, according to an internal memo obtained by Stars and Stripes. A VA Inspector General's report found that Rubens and Graves manipulated the hiring system to get moved to positions of lesser responsibility while maintaining the same salary. The VA disputed those allegations and instead found the women guilty of the less serious offense of not recusing themselves from the relocation process, in which they received about $400,000. The VA ordered the women demoted and reassigned.
VA officials Diana Rubens of Philadelphia, left, and Kimberly Graves of St. Paul, Minn., at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing in Washington
However, the Merit Systems Protection Board overturned the VA's punishment, part of a growing battle between the federal employee appeals board and the department. The VA has also been at odds with the Inspector General's office, which Gibson said has issued findings not supported by evidence.In a statement released Monday, Gibson said his proposed disciplinary actions "do not diminish the confidence VA leadership has in the abilities of Ms. Graves and Ms. Rubens to manage their offices, lead their employees and provide benefits to Veterans. "The disciplinary actions I took and any follow-on actions I may elect to take as a result of the initial actions being overturned, were based on the lack of judgment they displayed when they did not recuse themselves from the relocation decisions as quickly or as forcefully as they should have," he said. "Allegations of unethical behavior in the Inspector General report were not supported by any of the evidence I reviewed."
After the quasi-judicial board overturned the punishments for Rubens and Graves in January, it reversed the firing of Linda Weiss, director of the Albany-Stratton VA Medical Center in New York. The board ordered Weiss, who was accused of not responding to patient abuse, to be reinstated but Gibson has vowed not to implement the order.
2 Controversial VA Directors Back on the Job | Military.com
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VA Boosts Budget to Tackle Outstanding Healthcare Claims from Vets
Feb 09, 2016 | The Veterans Affairs Department is requesting a budget of $182 billion next year, a nearly $20 billion funding increase designed in part to tackle outstanding health care claims from veterans. The proposed spending plan unveiled on Tuesday includes nearly $103.6 billion for mandatory programs such as disability compensation and pensions, and more than $78 billion in discretionary funding -- mostly for health care.
VA Secretary Bob McDonald, who is scheduled to testify Wednesday before Congress on the budget request, said the agency now has "one of the greatest opportunities in its history to transform the way it cares for our veterans." McDonald says the funding will expand health care options to veterans across the country, continue efforts to end chronic veteran homelessness and further reduce the backlog on first-time claims and also on appeals. Claims appeals, which have increased over the past six years as the VA put more resources and manpower into tackling the first-time claims backlog, is being targeted next year with more money and personnel. The budget proposes $156.1 million and 922 full time employees for the Board of Appeals, up from about $110 million for a staff of 680 personnel in 2016. The department's spending plan marks the last one that President Barack Obama will submit as his second term ends next year and amounts to about double what it was in 2009 when he was sworn in.
After the White House released the budget details, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, a Republican from Florida and the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, released a rundown of recent and longstanding department problems, from cost overruns on construction projects to employees not being held accountable for poor performance and alleged wrongdoing. "I will fight to ensure VA has the resources it needs, but given the complete lack of accountability for the department's string of past financial failures, this budget request will receive every bit of the scrutiny it is due," he said in a statement. The department budgeted $68.6 billion for health care. Of that amount, more than $12 billion is slated to deliver health care to vets in their community. Another $8.5 billion is for long-term care; $7.8 billion for mental health programs; $1.6 billion to reduce veteran homelessness; $1.5 billion to treat veterans ill with hepatitis C; $601 million for treating spinal cord injuries and $284 million for traumatic brain injuries, according to budget documents. The VA expects to spend $725 million for caregivers.
To improve claims processing, the VA is continuing to invest in technology, earmarking $180 million to the Veterans Benefits Administration to enhance its electronic claims system and $143 million to the Veterans Claims Intake Program to continue converting older, paper records, including health records, into digital images and data. The backlog in first-time claims -- those not acted on within 125 days of filing -- has been reduced from its 2013 peak of 611,000 to about 82,000, McDonald said last month. Unlike other parts of the federal budget, Congress has authorized the VA to include funding requests one year in advance. As a result, the department included 2018 funding figures that totaled about $174 billion, including $104 billion in mandatory programs, a $1.5 billion increase from the 2017 request, and $470 billion in advance appropriations, an boost of about $300,000 from next year's amount.
VA Boosts Budget to Tackle Outstanding Healthcare Claims from Vets | Military.com