VA secretary announces organizational changes

WASHINGTON – Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin announced sweeping plans Wednesday to reorganize the embattled agency, beginning with national headquarters essentially taking over and consolidating oversight of VA medical centers in 12 states.

Three regional directors who oversaw 23 hospitals serving nearly 3 million veterans are out, and their offices now will report directly to a new executive in Washington.

Two of the directors opted to retire — Michael Mayo-Smith, who oversaw VA medical centers in New England, and Marie Wheldon, director of VA hospitals in Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California.

The third, Joseph Williams, was reassigned. He had supervised VA facilities in West Virginia, Maryland and Washington.

Shulkin’s moves follow an inspector general report released Wednesday that found local, regional and national VA officials knew for years about severe mismanagement at the Washington VA medical center but didn’t fix the problems.

Various national policy offices had received reports about the problems dating back to 2013, but Shulkin had not been informed, the inspector general said.

“I recognize this as a system failure issue, and this isn’t just about fixing the specific problems that the report mentions,” he told USA TODAY. “Essentially this is the opportunity to address similar issues around the country.”