2 reports released this week investigate medical system
Chelsea J. Carter CNN
via Click2Houston.com
5/30/2014
(CNN) – It’s one of the more disturbing revelations to arise from an investigation into fatal delays in care at Veterans Affairs medical centers: Employee bonuses appear to be one factor behind the manipulation of patient wait times in at least one hospital.
Two reports released this week — one by the VA’s inspector general and another by the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs — indicate in some cases wait times were manipulated to meet employee performance goals needed for bonuses.
The news has raised questions about just how widespread the practice was and who received the financial incentives.
Answers from the VA have been harder to come by.
Here’s a look at what we know…
The article continues at Click2Houston.com
Related: Eric Shinseki is out! Obama sacks Veterans Affairs secretary
…The president said Mr. Shinseki told him “that he could not carry out the next stages of reform without being a distraction himself.”
“And so, you know, my assessment was, unfortunately, that he was right,” the president told reporters. “We’ve also got to deal with Congress and you guys.”
The president said VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson, who has been in his post only three months, will take over on an interim basis.
The scandal became public several weeks ago, but the calls for Mr. Shinseki’s resignation among Democrats began in earnest Wednesday when a VA Inspector General’s report that showed the scope of the problem at the VA hospital in Phoenix had affected about 1,700 veterans…
Parents Of Vet Treated At Phoenix VA Facility Read His Suicide Note On Air (video)
…“Is it any wonder then that the latest figures show 22 veterans killing themselves each day? That is more veterans than children killed at Sandy Hook every single day. Where are the huge policy initiatives? Why isn’t the president standing with those families at the State of the Union? Perhaps because we were not killed by a single lunatic but rather by our system of dehumanization, neglect, and indifference.”…
