1 July 2015, Central Georgia Technical College – Macon, GA
- Congressman Bishop opened the meeting with thanking the audience for their service and then stating his intent was to not just thank us with words, but with actions. Congressman Bishop then gave a short bio for Secretary McDonald and introduced him to the audience.
- Secretary McDonald stated his three main objectives are:
- Rebuilding trust with veterans and the nation
- Improving service to veterans and driving down the claims backlog– 81% of veterans now have a choice in where they go for medical care and in the last year, overdue claims are down 77% and his goal is to have no overdue claims by the end of this calendar year
- Eliminating homelessness – homelessness is down 33%, but his goal is 0% by the end of the year
- Secretary McDonald’s strategy to transform the VA is 5-fold:
- Improve the veteran’s experience – wants the VA to be known as the best government agency for customer service
- Improve the employee experience – without happy employees, service will suffer
- Improve internal service support – specifically the IT backbone (outdated) and scheduling
- Create a culture of continuous improvement (training employees in Lean Six Sigma)
- Create strategic partnerships – the summer of service initiative seeking to have 100,000 volunteers. The VA can’t do this alone and needs help.
Question and Answer session:
- Q: VFW concerns: $2.6B budget shortfall adversely affecting access to care; Needing a supplemental appropriation to fund the VA; wanting full view of the VA budget next year – will Congressman Bishop support?
- A: Congressman Bishop gave his full support as the ranking democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
- Q: How can the VFW help?
- A: The budget shortfall was based on the required operating expenses for the VA, being above the appropriation. Like all other government agencies, the baseline funding was cut. The VFW and other Veteran Service Organizations can continue to push for sufficient funding. The VA needs to hire more people if they are to drive down timelines, yet requests for additional hiring funds keep being stripped out by Congress. Veteran Benefit Advocates have served mandatory overtime for over 4 years, and this isn’t sustainable. Additionally, the VA has kept 7 million appointments since last year and has seen an increase in the number of veterans seeking care from the VA, even if they have other medical providers.
- Q: What is being done to remove ineffective and inefficient employees?
- A: 91% of VA facilities have new directors or new leadership teams, hundreds have been fired, and more are under investigation. The way to help is when service is good, provide the name, place and time so employees can be recognized; similarly, if service is poor, to take action the VA needs the specifics (name, place, time, issue). Secretary McDonald is committed to holding his personnel accountable
- Q: For veterans with the Choice card, can there be a list distributed or on the website that has the participating providers?
- A: Good idea, they will work it. There also needs to be better information passed down on how the Choice card works. With the change in policy to 40 miles driving distance (versus as the crow flies), twice the number of veterans are now eligible. The VA has added staff and is working with HealthNet and TriWest to add providers.
- Q: Camp Lejeune water treatment and birth defects. Can it cover children retroactively since thousands have been spent over a lifetime for care?
- A: Right now the law states who qualifies and it didn’t cover recipients retroactively. The VA has proposed making the law retroactive, but it hasn’t passed yet. Additionally, as more laws are passed and qualified recipients increase, the VA needs the additional funding for care. The VA is continually studying groups (recent decision on C-123 crews).
- Q: Personal case – Hepatitis C now approved for benefits and drug regiment for cure, but the veteran not compensated for travel
- A: The VA does have approval for Hepatitis C care and a regimen that will cure Hepatitis C at $600/pill (versus $1000/pill in the community). The member should get in touch with the staff to work on reimbursement
- Q: Why is it so difficult for Gulf War Syndrome to be approved?
- A: There are multiple symptoms and the science isn’t good. The VA is working to improve the science.
- Why is there no continuity of care between VA facilities?
- A: VA facilities operate independently and are not linked by one system that documents medication and records. The VA has a team working to create an IT backbone that will allow veterans to be helped at any VA medical center. Congressman Bishop is advocating for a seamless DoD to VA health record system.
- Q: What funds are available to rehabilitate hotels, buildings, etc. for veteran & family housing?
- A: There are funds available and the VA will work with developers to fund projects
- Q: What is being done to upgrade discharges for members separated under other than honorable conditions due to PTSD?
- A: The Department of Defense handles service characterization boards, and Secretary McDonald met with SecDEF Carter last week to ask that DoD double their efforts
- Q: What is the VA doing in regards to veteran hiring initiatives and veteran preference?
- A: Vet preference still matters to the VA. Contact the VA for employment opportunities. There are other initiatives like Warrior for Wire – training in the IT space, work with Gas companies for employment, etc.
- Conclusion: Secretary McDonald stated the VA is making progress, but asked the audience to be patient. If anyone has a specific issue with the VA, or has a positive experience, provide him the name, date and time to bob.mcdonald@va.gov
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