Speaking of the DVA
The Associated Press does a story on the VA’s Office of the Inspector General’s internal investigation of DVA’s claims processing;
The internal watchdog for the Veterans Affairs Department says VA medical centers need to give compensation and pension medical exams to veterans sooner in order to expedite disability claims.
It says some veterans wait months longer than necessary for disability claims because getting the exams takes so long.
Oh, no shit! I. Never. Knew. That. How much money to get to that level of brilliance?
At a facility in Roseburg, Ore., the IG found hundreds of requests for an exam tucked in file cabinets so a timeliness quota could be met. And it found claims at an outpatient clinic in Winston-Salem, N.C., were processed out of order to also help with the quota.
How many stories of this type of incompetence and intentional malfeasance have we suffered in the last few years?
The chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Daniel Akaka, says the VA needs to devote more resources to fixing the problem. The VA has told the inspector general it will do that.
Oh, well, I feel much better now. Shinseki promised an improvement in veterans’ services back in January last year. He promised changes in the DVA. As recnetly as last month, he promised he’d improve the system. But you know what – just last week, Shinseki finally agreed with Congress that he needs to “prioritize reform“. Isn’t that something he should have done last year before he took office? I’m no MBA grad, but it seems to me like you can’t reform anything until the reforms are prioritized. Fucking brain dead morons.
You know, I’m pretty sure that reforming a big bureaucratic dinosaur is a tough job that takes a long time, but after watching the media hammer the Bush Administration (who doubled the funding for veterans in the first three years in office) for every streak they found on a hospital window, where the fuck are these watchdogs now?
I don’t envy Shinseki for the task he’s committed himself to, but shouldn’t he at least act like he’s trying to do something instead of whacking his meat for Congress every couple of months?
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Veteran Health Care
This is not going to get played like a government problem, but a problem you have when military people are running the show. In reality, its a good indicator of what happens when any branch of government is forced to interact with people.
They don’t even recognize that real people are suffering for their incompetence.
The last time I applied for a rating increase, it took 13 months to process. After my initial filing, it took months to get the exams, and then more months waiting for a decision.
I am greatful for what I have been able to receive. Let no one think that I don’t appreciate it. However, I am terribly disappointed in the entire system. I wish I had an answer as to how best to fix it, or at least increase the efficiency of the system.
The months and months of waiting for just a doctor appointment is amazing to me, as is the amount of paperwork that must be filled out by hand when so much stuff is already online in the VA system.
Is it just me, or has “reform” become politese for “screw things up even more or, if you’re lucky, just sit on our hands”?
Shinseki: “Risk-averse, took no initiative, stuck his neck out not at all,” an O6 who served-with when he was chief of mission in Bosnia said about him. I doubt he’s changed much.
Not only does it take forever to get the appointment, don’t count on finding out about the appointment in a reasonable time before hand. I regularly received notices the day of or even after the scheduled appointment. So, being somewhat practical I asked if they could e-mail me appointment notices. And the answer was yes, but only if I contacted each department I would have to see because there is no central office that handles scheduling.