VA Whistleblowers Gain Protections (c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.

On April 27, 2017, a presidential executive order gave the Department of Veterans Affairs 45 days to create a special office to protect whistleblowers and increase accountability. The VA managed to pull it off in 15 days, and the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection now is up and running.

While short on text, the executive order is long on potential impact. A few highlights:

* The office is to help recruit, reward and retain high-performing employees;

* It will help identify statutory barriers to disciplining or terminating any employee who has done anything to jeopardize the health and safety of a veteran, and to report those barriers so they can be fixed via legislation;

* It will act swiftly to resolve veterans’ complaints of wrongdoing;

* And best of all: The new office will quickly investigate employees’ allegations of wrongdoing, and protect those employees from retaliation.

There. We have it in writing, signed, sealed and delivered: Whistleblowers will be protected. No longer will they have to face going to work knowing that inappropriate care is being given to veterans, or that supplies are going out the back door, or that drunk medical personnel are duty. No longer will they have to get a fake email account to try and stay anonymous when they send information to the hotline.

And no longer will the VA have to follow a protracted and convoluted set of legal guidelines, effectively being forced to keep a wayward employee who needs to be shown the door.

Additionally, remarks made at President Donald Trump’s signing indicate that there will be a website that discloses wait times at all VA hospitals, that mental health services will be same-day at all VA hospitals, and that already this year, veterans have received 42 percent more Choice Program approvals to see doctors of their choosing.

Are things looking up? We can only hope.