WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin outlined an ambitious reform of nearly every aspect of his often-criticized department during a “State of the VA” address at the White House on Wednesday, calling it a sign of the president’s commitment to helping veterans.
“Many of these challenges have been decades in building and they’ve spanned multiple administrations,” Shulkin told reporters at the event. “This is the time for us to really address these chronic problems that in many ways have harmed veterans and their families.”
The plan includes promises to speed medical care access to all veterans, reduce disability claims backlogs, expand community care options for patients, reduce VA’s footprint nationwide, improve the department’s information technology systems and reduce both the number of bureaucrats in VA’s headquarters and “burdensome regulations” within the department.
Nearly all of the ideas have already been started by VA and touted by agency leaders in the last few months.
But together, the plan represents the most sweeping reform goals for the department since President Barack Obama in 2009 announced plans to end veterans homelessness, eliminate the claims backlog and modernize VA’s files.
Shulkin said most of his 12-point reform plan won’t require additional funding from Congress, but many parts will require new legislation authorizing significant changes in rules and authorities.
Some of those are already underway. The Senate is scheduled to vote in June on new accountability legislation that would make it easier to fire misbehaving VA employees. The House earlier this month approved new legislation to simplify the disability claims appeals process.
Others include getting lawmakers to consolidate existing outside care funding streams into a single new program and to authorize VA to shutter or sell off unused department facilities, things that VA leaders have been requesting for several years.
“The president, the vice president, Congress, veteran service organizations all share the goal to help modernize VA,” Shulkin said. “That’s why I’m confident that we can turn VA into the type of organization that veterans and families deserve and all of us want to see.”
Other plans include a 10 percent cut in VA central office staff and a new waste, fraud and abuse advisory committee to be stood up in June.
A new program to compare VA hospitals to community care options has already identified 14 medical centers below acceptable care standards, prompting new oversight and performance fixes for those facilities.
Most of the reforms don’t include a timeline, but Shulkin promised regular progress and updates on each topic. He said plans to reform VA’s information technology will require new funding to complete, and he will present that plan to Congress later this summer.
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