Transparency at the VA

Once again, I’m impressed with Department of Veterans Affairs boss David Shulkin. He promised transparency in the VA, and it appears he has delivered. Starting recently, a (long) list of adverse employee actions is being posted online by and will be updated weekly as part of the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act. The list goes back to Jan. 20, the day the new administration went to Washington. The VA is the first federal agency to provide this list.

While the list doesn’t contain employee names, it does list the VA region, job title and type of action taken, including demotions, suspensions over 14 days and terminations. It will be adding new categories of actions in future weekly updates.

There are a couple of unexplained things, such as requiring senior-level official signoffs on settlement actions above $5,000. We’re not talking department heads here. Maybe in future installments of the list we’ll learn just what kinds of settlements are taking place.

To view the list, go to www.va.gov/accountability and scroll down to the Adverse Actions list.

There’s some interesting stuff there. One wonders what a pharmacy technician did to get removed, or why a registered nurse was suspended more than 14 days. In the course of one day at the same location, we see a medical support assistant, hospital housekeeping officer, nursing assistant and supervisory medical supply technician all being removed, while a maintenance mechanic got a suspension. Inquiring minds want to know what happened.

Since the list went up a mere two weeks after President Donald Trump signed the Act, the VA must have been in a bit of a rush. The 27 pages of the list all still say at the top “For Official Use Only. Not for release outside of the Undersecretary and Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs Office.”

(c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.