Posted on May 14, 2015
VA accused of improperly spending $6 billion annually. Given this and other recent stories, is the VA beyond reform?
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The Department of Veterans Affairs has been spending at least $6 billion a year in violation of federal contracting rules to pay for medical care and supplies, wasting taxpayer money and putting veterans at risk, according to an internal memo written by the agency’s senior official for procurement.
In a 35-page document addressed to VA Secretary Robert McDonald, the official accuses other agency leaders of “gross mismanagement” and making a “mockery” of federal acquisition laws that require competitive bidding and proper contracts.
Jan R. Frye, deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and logistics, describes a culture of “lawlessness and chaos” at the Veterans Health Administration, the massive health-care system for 8.7 million veterans.
“Doors are swung wide open for fraud, waste and abuse,” he writes in the March memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post. He adds, “I can state without reservation that VA has and continues to waste millions of dollars by paying excessive prices for goods and services due to breaches of Federal laws.”
Frye describes in detail a series of practices that he says run afoul of federal rules, including the widespread use of purchase cards, which are usually meant as a convenience for minor purchases of up to $3,000, to buy billions of dollars worth of medical supplies without contracts. In one example, he says that up to $1.2 billion in prosthetics were bought using purchase cards without contracts during an 18-month period that ended last year.
He also explains how VA has failed to engage in competitive bidding or sign contracts with outside hospital and health-care providers that offer medical care for veterans that the agency cannot provide, such as specialized tests and surgeries and other procedures. Frye says VA has paid at least $5 billion in such fees, in violation of federal rules that the agency’s own general counsel has said since 2009 must be followed.
Read the full story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/va-improperly-spent-6-billion-on-care-for-veterans-senior-agency-leader-says/2015/05/13/ab8f131c-f5be-11e4-b2f3-af5479e6bbdd_story.html?hpid=z7
In a 35-page document addressed to VA Secretary Robert McDonald, the official accuses other agency leaders of “gross mismanagement” and making a “mockery” of federal acquisition laws that require competitive bidding and proper contracts.
Jan R. Frye, deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and logistics, describes a culture of “lawlessness and chaos” at the Veterans Health Administration, the massive health-care system for 8.7 million veterans.
“Doors are swung wide open for fraud, waste and abuse,” he writes in the March memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post. He adds, “I can state without reservation that VA has and continues to waste millions of dollars by paying excessive prices for goods and services due to breaches of Federal laws.”
Frye describes in detail a series of practices that he says run afoul of federal rules, including the widespread use of purchase cards, which are usually meant as a convenience for minor purchases of up to $3,000, to buy billions of dollars worth of medical supplies without contracts. In one example, he says that up to $1.2 billion in prosthetics were bought using purchase cards without contracts during an 18-month period that ended last year.
He also explains how VA has failed to engage in competitive bidding or sign contracts with outside hospital and health-care providers that offer medical care for veterans that the agency cannot provide, such as specialized tests and surgeries and other procedures. Frye says VA has paid at least $5 billion in such fees, in violation of federal rules that the agency’s own general counsel has said since 2009 must be followed.
Read the full story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/va-improperly-spent-6-billion-on-care-for-veterans-senior-agency-leader-says/2015/05/13/ab8f131c-f5be-11e4-b2f3-af5479e6bbdd_story.html?hpid=z7
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Fraud
Ethics
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 17
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PO1 John Miller
Also, it's not just the VA, it's across the board with civil service employees. Once their probation is up it is very hard to fire them as I literally said in my previous post.
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PO1 John Miller
They are paid in a different category but they're still civil service. Case in point. Go to https://www.usajobs.gov and look up VA jobs. You will see that the majority of them are for doctors, nurses, and other health care workers.
USAJOBS - The Federal Government’s Official Jobs Site
This is a United States Office of Personnel Management website. USAJOBS is the Federal Government’s official one-stop source for federal jobs and employment information.
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MCPO Tom Miller
The problem with the VA is in its union controlled lesdership. There are no standards of job performance and it's almost impossible to get fired as well. Over the years leadership was selected from a select group based on the buddy system. This is why it has become the pit fall for our veterans. They just hired 6,000 more to augment this same old system and more feather bedding. The clean up was was to.fire and hire; however, only a few were fire and retired. We need to elemiate this union control and.bring in managers that can make standards effective and release rude nonperformers. Service Connected Veterans should be given Tricare and Medicare.
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If the VA is beyond reform, (What a dramatic expression) then so is everything else in government. As other posters mentioned, inefficiency goes hand in hand with bureaucracy; always has, and always will. I choose to not ignore the issues, but rather, to focus on the good.
* I don't want to play devil's advocate here, but my view is rather biased somewhat by my sense of gratitude for services received. Many low-income vets across the U.S. don't have other options. That said, without the VA, even as it is, literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs for surgeries, medications, follow-up care and treatment, and more, would have been personally billed to me, who can barely afford any out-o-pocket expenses. Over the years, physical therapy sessions, multiple eye surgeries, (including 20/20 restored vision in r eye) and even specialty care at OHSU, Casey Eye Clinic has been provided to me, who sometimes don't even feel worthy of all that, though I served honorably and willingly. The VA aint perfect, but what is? It's the only, (and the best) care some of us without other insurance will ever get in this lifetime. They bring in some of the finest doctors in the world too, at least that's been my experience in Southern CA, and the Pacific NW. "The only constant in life is change." Change is coming, whether we accept it or not... we just don't know if it's for the better: or worse! LOL!
* I don't want to play devil's advocate here, but my view is rather biased somewhat by my sense of gratitude for services received. Many low-income vets across the U.S. don't have other options. That said, without the VA, even as it is, literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs for surgeries, medications, follow-up care and treatment, and more, would have been personally billed to me, who can barely afford any out-o-pocket expenses. Over the years, physical therapy sessions, multiple eye surgeries, (including 20/20 restored vision in r eye) and even specialty care at OHSU, Casey Eye Clinic has been provided to me, who sometimes don't even feel worthy of all that, though I served honorably and willingly. The VA aint perfect, but what is? It's the only, (and the best) care some of us without other insurance will ever get in this lifetime. They bring in some of the finest doctors in the world too, at least that's been my experience in Southern CA, and the Pacific NW. "The only constant in life is change." Change is coming, whether we accept it or not... we just don't know if it's for the better: or worse! LOL!
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It is sad to see the people that gave so much. Get screwed over in the end by politics and corruption. They deserve the best care possible for the sacrifices they made for our beautiful nation.
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It is my belief that the problem lies within the entrenched bureaucracy that permeates our every department of our government. The VA can be saved but only if a complete house cleaning of these of ineffective personnel can be made. This cleaning need to be conducted by an outside source. If it is done as it usually is the problem and the culpable people will just have their wrests slapped and the back to business as usual.
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What would it cost to put vets on Tricare or some other form of medical insurance and get rid of the VA health system all together?
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I think anyone or anything can be reformed, but only if they are willing to take the necessary actions towards reform.
That being said I feel that the VA can't see the forest because of all the trees.
It's past time that the VA wake up and realize that they are not fulfilling their duties of taking care of us Veterans.
If they are serious about changing how they are perceived then it's time to step up to the plate.
That being said I feel that the VA can't see the forest because of all the trees.
It's past time that the VA wake up and realize that they are not fulfilling their duties of taking care of us Veterans.
If they are serious about changing how they are perceived then it's time to step up to the plate.
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GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad
Thanks PO1 Glenn Boucher --- I too believe that anyone or anything can be reformed but, frankly, the VA is starting to make me question that belief!
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1SG Kenneth Talkington Sr
The VA is not the problem. The problem lies within the entrenched administrators who do not feel they have follow regulations or orders. The people providing the care are normally very good at their jobs.
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