Increased firings at the VA
Military Times reports that firings at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs are on the rise since the President signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 last summer. Critics (read that as “union thugs at the American Federation of Government Employees”) aren’t happy with the firings, but it’s having an impact;
From February to the end of July — before the new rules were put in place — 566 VA workers were fired (an average of about 94 a month). From August to mid-December, that figure rose to 756, or about 168 a month.
VA officials called that a sign of progress.
Military Times says that the firings are in line with firings in previous years, the difference being that the appeal time for employees contesting their dismissal is shortened.
In 2015, then VA Secretary Bob McDonald said about 1,500 employees were fired from the department, an average of about 125 individuals a month. In fiscal 2013 (which ran from October 2013 to September 2014, including the VA wait time scandal of spring 2014) department records indicated that more than 2,200 employees were fired, an average around 183 a month.
Eight senior VA leaders were dismissed in 2017, four before the new law was put into effect and four after. On the year, 38 physicians were fired, with 23 of those coming after the new law.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
The real question is how many remained fired.
And how much in “bonuses” is the MPSB getting from the AFGE to un-fire people?
You can bet your ass not enough! Info for you guys in VA__ On Sep 10, I slipped down on the floor, eased, not falling, and couldn’t get up, I had no strength in my arms or legs, flopping like a fish out of water trying to get up…my wife couldn’t help me she has a bad arm, so she called paramedics, long story short they ended up taking me to emergency, my back was hurting so bad I can’t describe it and couldn’t hardly stand for the medics to put me on the gurney, I notified them and the hospital I was a vet…I was in icu for 14 days, they kept me drugged up for about 5 or 6 or those days and I didn’t know up from down. I had two witnesses, my wife and my pastor….the corrupt hosp. charged 168,000.00 for the 14 days!! fortunately I had humana and the paid a big chunk of the bill, the VA said they would not pay because I didn’t call them?? On the floor, in emergency drugged up and I didn’t notify them within 72 hours! That gentlemen is who you are having to deal with…..I just went to my provider and was asking for her help, which she says she has no input, but said its changed, now you have to go to the clinic and get their approval to go to emergency…Is this freaking Alice in Wonderland again or what? Try getting a clinic appt in lest that a month and a half and after hours? This happened to me on a Sunday night, try getting an appointment then! So you are incapacitated, on the floor or drugged up and you are supposed to get a clinic appointment…..WHAT INSANE SON OF A BITCH IS MAKING THESE RULES???
That is some stupid shit.
You are supposed to schedule injuries and sicknesses 5 months in advance.
Sometimes you have to be on a waiting list to be sick.
Thank God I have 2 private health insurances (my wife and my employers). I get excellent treatment because I’m not their average gunshot victim or illegal alien. And I don’t go to Emergency for the sniffles like the crumb snatchers crawling all over the furniture.
I have full coverage with the VA as well but only do a yearly physical and go in for eye glasses and hearing aid check. Took me like 15 years to get a hearing aid. They had the balls to suggest I learn to read lips or sign language.
G’bye, good riddance, see ya… The big question is are they recplacing them with better quality employees? Although it’s easier to get rid of a newbie if they’re a dirtbag before the union can get their hooks in the situation.
May they all stay fired.
Disband the unions.
^^^^THIS^^^^
Absolutely! Ain’t seen a single union worth a damn
Phoenix is still a clusterfuck. My patients are still being denied Choice care. One hundred percent of my patients are disabled. Average age of my patients- 88 years.
They are told they can be declared homebound so I can see them where they live but they must travel to the VA to be declared Homebound by the VA PCP.
Once they or their family arrange travel to the VA (often at their own expense) to be declared Homebound so they will qualify for VA Choice care in the home. The VA PCP is told to tell they they don’t qualify because they did travel to the VA to be declared Homebound.
Excuse me if I don’t believe a thing about the VA saying its getting better. Here in Phoenix the care my patients get from the VA I wouldn’t wish on Kim Da’ Tard (well maybe him) but no real humans.
Heard Phoenix VA and the one in the mountains…forgot the name is pretty bad. All reports I use to get in HQ indicated that VA never vetted their hirings in this area.
The one in the mountains is probably Prescott Az,never had a problem with Prescott!….Everyone needs to raise hell with these a.h.s in VA ALL THE TIME, keep at them, My guess is that the a.h.’s making these moronic rules (see my post above about emergencies) are civilian DUMOCRAPS! If you want to call the White house hot line, the number is 1 855 948 2311 I have called them twice, first report on my case and just now to upgrade my complaint with this latest fiasco about having to go to the clinic…the idiot that came up with this one, sounds like the same one in both cases! Keep at them , unless we bug them to death, it will never reach the right people and will then get rectified imho!
Do any of the VA Medical Centers or clinics go through Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations? If so are the results public?
The old Catch 22. The best catch there is. We can declare you homebound but we need to see you here to do it. If you come here, we can’t declare you homebound because you left your house to get here. Catch 22. The best catch there is.
No shyt! you need to go to emergency? come to your appointment here in oh say a month and a half and we will see…you say you can’t get up off the floor, thats ok, just crawl in here, you have plenty of time!
Wouldn’t it be great to see a headline that lauded increased productivity and quality of care?
Burn it to the ground and rebuild it with *qualified* civilians and veterans.
Simple.
Sheesh, do I have to do everything around here?!?
Nuke it from orbit, the only way to be sure.
If you want to experience socialism, visit a latrine at a VA Hospital. Dirty, stinking, diseased. Government monopolies are worst than private monopolies. Private Businesses have a degree of decency. The Government employees could not care less.
That’s not quite true! The facilities I have been to are clean and well kept, its not the facilities I have access to that are the problem, its the MORONS MAKING THE RULES THAT AFFECT ALL CLINICS! and all veterans…by the way, Why in hell are the hospitals not required to notify the VA they have an incapacitated veteran? who else is in a better position to?
A good video by a doctor who cares.
https://youtu.be/tObaGvkCph0
I had a terrible experience with the VA in Alaska when I retired out of JBER but have been pretty satisfied with the VA here in Missou so I think some of it is regional.
They treat Veterans very well here to the point I usually go to the brand spanking new VA clinic they built about 25 miles from my farm instead of using my Tricare.
They should fire this particular head of the vascular clinic, the people in same day surgery nicknamed him Fast Frank(a real jerk of Dr.) at the East Orange NJ VA hospital, all that guy did for me doing fistula surgery for dialysis was leave me with a scar on my arm, and when it didn’t work which was obvious with in 1 week of the surgery,it took him 2 months to reschedule, but by then I went outside of the VA and had it done and I also had to in the mean time have a new chest catheter put in prior to that because the original that was put in by the VA(that Dr. was excellent BTW) was in to long and failed before the fistula was healed enough for use.
Another group they should do some weeding out of are the shuttle drivers that go between Lyons and EO VA’s , they are a bunch of racist bastards that treat white vets like shit ! My rant of the day about the VA
The VA doesn’t hire enough veterans instead they would rather hire incompetent unhealthy looking affirmative action types that don’t care, plain and simple that is the unspoken root of the problem with the VA, don’t want to offend those assholes now would we ?….SMH in disgust, that is the biggest problem with the VA….here in NJ, Lyons and a clinic in Piscataway are pretty good , but East Orange sucks the big one for the most part.
“The VA doesn’t hire enough veterans instead they would rather hire incompetent unhealthy looking affirmative action types that don’t care, plain and simple…”
My impression is that Federal, State and Local Governments nearly always seek to do that, God Forbid they pass over an EEO Quota in favor of someone that is truly qualified.
I’m really sorry some of you have had a hard time dealing w VA. I had my share of bad experiences since getting out in 07. But I’ve seen lots of improvement since then esp since Phoenix. I’ve been blessed with mostly good and caring nurses and providers that have taken care of my physical and mental health issues. I honestly believe there are more good staff than bad. So I’m not gonna paint w a broad brush. The bad apples need to go their bad press real stinks it up and obscures the ones that really care for veterans
My experience with the VA medical center has been good, but it could be due to its being attached to an active duty Navy base, where it has to treat AD people as well as veterans.
The VA worked for me, when I got out back January 68 with a 30-40 percent disability. I wanted to get an apprenticeship for a Tool and Die maker. I was told I was too old and the problems with my legs would keep me from standing for long periods of time.(standing for long periods necessary for that type of work) The VA people made a visit, to the company I applied for an apprenticeship on my behalf, and I got the apprenticeship. Years later the VA helped with my degree in mechanical engineering.
Yes the hour and twenty minute wait, after appointment time, to see a doctor will piss me off. The rude folks you run into at times aggravating, all this needs improvement. But that said, I owe a lot to the VA.
Steve
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It’s refreshing to hear that some housecleaning is being done, but there is still a long way to go. I say that decertifying and disbanding the AFGE would be a good step forward!
I wonder if Clifford Currie’s protectors have received even the mildest of sanctions, considering he attempted to murder an Army Nurse.
Sadly I have to agree with the comments about the AFGE. They were in competition to represent us many years ago, and the only thing they really showed us was they took really good care of their paid leadership – anyone else, not so much, so we went with what was the new kid at that time. Coming from the Excepted Federal side of the house, the Union is about the only thing that serves to keep management in check, and those units that had AFGE as their Union Reps always suffered far more crap than we did and had much poorer relations with the lower rank and file.
Hell Of A Start
You mean like the two women who pilfered VA funds who were never fired, just transferred with a ‘naughty, naughty’ and never had to repay the amount their light fingers picked up……..??
What a load of rubbish…….VA ALWAYS covers itself royally.
“VA doesn’t hire enough veterans…”
I’m not a vet, but I’m all in favor of the current veteran’s preference. In my experience it’s real, i.e., they don’t even look at non-vet job applications until they’ve reviewed the applications from veterans. And if one of those vets is qualified, they hire him or her.
It’s happened to me before, i.e., I was not even interviewed because they had some veterans (or at least one) apply and they hired him. I thought that was good, particularly b/c it was for a Vet Center position and that’s one part of VA where you really, really want to have as many vets working as you can.
If they put this issue to a vote, I would vote “yes, keep doing it this way”. Currently VHA is about 1/3 veterans and VBA is about 1/2 vets. I’m grateful to all my veteran coworkers (when I was at VA) – I learned a ton from them, and I was (hopefully) more understanding and helpful to my patients as a result.
THIS SHIT IS BEGINNING TO GRIND MY GEARS
@ jonn – hope you feel well buddy , best regards
@ all the rest of any VA happy/complacent motherfuckers I’m leading with this:
At Veterans Hospital in Oregon, a Push for Better Ratings Puts Patients at Risk, Doctors Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/us/at-veterans-hospital-in-oregon-a-push-for-better-ratings-puts-patients-at-risk-doctors-say.html
retreived jan 4 2018
Not even the VA is good- trusting their own reported statistics.
If you don’t think you are worthy of better, RIP.
They need to start cleaning out VISN 19.