http://www.weeklystandard.com/print/va-fires-first-negligent-officials-in-18-months/article/2002758VA Fires First Negligent Officials in 18 Months
3:50 PM, Jun 09, 2016 | By Lindsey Curnutte
The Department of Veterans' Affairs fired three senior officials from the Phoenix VA health care system Wednesday, marking the first dismissals linked to the mismanagement in Arizona since the system's director was ousted in November 2014.
Associate director Lance Robinson, chief of Health Administration Service Brad Curry, and hospital chief of staff Dr. Darren Deering were all removed for negligent performance and failure to provide effective oversight for properly scheduled appointments, according to a news release from the department.
"We have an obligation to Veterans and the American people to take appropriate accountability actions as supported by evidence," Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson said. "While this process took far too long, the evidence supports these removals and sets the stage for moving forward."
The VA proposed the staffers' termination in March, and Wednesday's announcement formalized the dismissals.
"Deputy Secretary Gibson is correct in saying the process took 'far too long'," said Republican congressman Jeff Miller, the chairman of the House committee on veterans' affairs, in a statement.
Miller urged the Senate to approve House-passed legislation authorizing the VA to swiftly fire or demote poorly performing employees. The bill, the VA Accountability Act, would expedite the extensive process to remove misbehaving personnel, like Robinson, Curry, and Deering, from the VA health care system.
"In the meantime, VA – forced to tolerate misbehavior throughout its ranks – will continue to lurch from one scandal to another, and veterans will pay the price," Miller said.
In April 2014 CNN began reporting on a secret waiting list of 1,400 to 1,600 veterans who waited months for care. Emails between top officials at the Phoenix VA confirmed the secret list was a part of an elaborate scheme to falsify the long wait times for veterans who needed care.
VA secretary Robert McDonald said in an April speech that more than 97 percent of appointments at VA facilities were carried out within 30 days in fiscal year 2015, and the average wait time to receive mental health, primary and specialty care was three, five and six days, respectively.
Despite the VA's touting of short average wait times, the Government Accountability Office found this year that veterans still experience a wide variation of wait times across the VA healthcare system. Wait times for 120 newly enrolled veterans ranged from 22 to 71 days, according to a March analysis.
