How will next president reverse VA’s downward spiral?
Construction on the new Veterans Affairs hospital in Aurora. Colo., is expected to continue until 2018. Let’s hope the moderators for the coming presidential debates press the candidates to substantively explain to the nation their proposed solutions for
The latest news from Colorado alone suggests deadly problems with patient wait times and irresponsible management of its facilities will continue to haunt the Department of Veterans Affairs bureaucracy far beyond our state’s borders. Indeed, it would seem the current VA culture is collapsing under its inability to stop making bad decisions.
This week we learned of a whistle-blower claim that officials with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Colorado Springs forged documents after a 26-year-old Army Ranger struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder committed suicide while awaiting treatment this summer, apparently in part because of excessive delays in treatment.
The claim comes after the wait lists trouble of 2014. Then, agency employees in Phoenix dealt with high demand for patient service by concealing the extent of the problem. The subterfuge has been cited as a potential factor in the deaths of at least 35 veterans waiting for help.
U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin called for an investigation into the whistle-blower’s accusation, and a second claim that VA officials threatened the whistle-blower for alerting Congress.
Next, a VA Inspector General report found that agency officials in Washington looked the other way when they should’ve been looking into repeated warnings about rising costs at the VA hospital then and still under construction in Aurora.
Seems like every time we get a new report on that hospital. the price goes up and opening date extends into the future. The IG report says the Aurora facility once expected to cost $604 million will need at least
The claim comes after the wait lists trouble of 2014. Then, agency employees in Phoenix dealt with high demand for patient service by concealing the extent of the problem. The subterfuge has been cited as a potential factor in the deaths of at least 35 veterans waiting for help.
six more months of construction time and cost $315 million more than the $1.7 billion price tag it swelled to.
As the IG put it, “This means veterans will not likely be served by a fully functioning facility before mid-to-late 2018 or almost 20 years after VA identified the need to replace and expand its aging facility in Denver.”
The watchdogs found that Glenn Haggstrom, the construction chief who should have taken heed the Aurora hospital’s whimsical design elements were breaking the bank — and a prominent subject in The Denver Post’s investigation of the Aurora project’s troubles — declined to tell Congress about the concerns when called to testify in 2013 and 2014.
Haggstrom and another official involved in the mess have left the agency with full benefits. An internal investigation the VA has refused to make public found, miraculously, that no other punishments are necessary.
President Barack Obama recently noted his administration has reduced wait times by hiring more doctors, nurses and staff. But no sooner did that bit of good news arrive than government officials released a report warning the VA is battling a rush of doctors and other key medical staff toward the exits.
Sad times indeed. Especially when you consider that the country’s two major political parties have presented presidential nominees most Americans find untrustworthy.
Properly treating veterans is a fundamental responsibility of any commander in chief. We hope veterans’ issues on these and other fronts get more attention before Election Day.