VFW Action Corps Weekly July 17, 2014 In This Issue: 1. VFW Heads to St. Louis for Annual Convention 2. Acting Secretary Discusses VA Progress with Senators 3. House Committee Hears from VBA Employees on Backlog 4. Hearing Discusses Private Sector and VA Healthcare Practices 1. VFW Heads to St. Louis for Annual Convention: The 115th VFW National Convention will stream live from St. Louis, Mo., beginning Sunday, July 20 and continuing through Wednesday, July 23. On Monday, the Joint Opening Session will feature special award presentations to the United States Navy Corpsman, Stars & Stripes, U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and others. During the five-day long convention, you will also hear from Vice President Joe Biden, Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson and U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt. VFW National Legislative Service invites you to join us at our workshop on Sunday, July 20 at 10:00 a.m. and to stop by our booth and sign up to join our advocacy team; pick up a copy of our legislative priority goals; check out our website and Capitol Hill blog and more. For a complete schedule of events and live streaming of the convention, click here: vfw.org/News-and-Events/Articles/2014-Articles/115th-VFW-NATIONAL-CONVENTION-ROLLS-INTO-ST--LOUIS/ 2. Acting Secretary Discusses VA Progress with Senators: On Wednesday, Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson, accompanied by Assistant Under Secretary for Health Administrative Operations Philip Matkovsky, spoke frankly with members of the Senate VA Committee on the state of VA and the resources needed to address veterans’ access to care within VA medical facilities. Committee members asked questions ranging from health care provider needs, medical facility space and construction obligations, long-term capacity issues and how VA will move forward to achieve these goals. During the hearing, Gibson requested supplemental appropriations of $17.6 billion to cover the costs of increasing access and improving infrastructure within VA. For complete committee coverage, click here: veterans.senate.gov/hearings/the-state-of-va-health-care07162014 3. House Committee Hears from VBA Employees on Backlog: On Monday evening, the House Veterans Affairs Committee heard testimony that the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) made thousands of errors in its rush to reduce a backlog in disability claims. The panel heard from Allison Hickey, VA Undersecretary for Benefits, who on Monday announced that the department had processed 1 million claims thus far and is on pace to complete 1.3 million claims by the end of the fiscal year. But an investigation by the Inspector General for the VA found new mistakes made by employees at the VBA. The errors include thousands of cases being deducted from the sizeable backlog while they were still being processed and the VA failing to follow up with patients who received 100 percent disability benefits. Linda Halliday, Assistant Inspector General for VA, testified that other resources from within the VA were also compromised in order to try to eliminate the backlog. For more on the hearing, visit the House VA website at: veterans.house.gov/hearing/evaluation-of-the-process-to-achieve-vba-goals 4. Hearing Discusses Private Sector and VA Healthcare Practices: The VFW was on-hand Wednesday during a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing discussing best practices within private health care that could be used to improve the way VA delivers services. Witnesses included representatives from the American Hospital Association, Duke University and Indiana University. All the witnesses noted the unique expertise of VA in treating service-related conditions and the need to continue to support its mission, but also gave several specific recommendations on how to increase access through greater efficiency. These recommendations included updating scheduling software, ensuring that all providers practice at their highest licenses, and greater willingness to allocate resources based on physician and veteran input. Dr. Monte D. Brown of Duke University pointed out that more flexible hours could have a huge impact, and estimated that VA could schedule an additional 5 million appointments each year by staying open until 5:00 instead of 4:30. The VFW has made similar recommendations in the past and will continue to work with Congress and VA on these common sense approaches to maximize health care access. To sign up new veterans’ advocates, click here: capwiz/vfw/mlm/signup.htm. As always, we want to share your advocacy stories on the VFW Capitol Hill blog. To share your stories either fill out our online form by clicking here, vfw.org/Forms/Capitol-Hill-Blog-Submissions/, or simply email photos and stories directly to [email protected].
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:58:30 +0000
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