Curious Nomination To Head Veterans Health Administration

Head Veterans Health Administration

Benjamin KrauseScholar, entrepreneurial and internal medicine doctor David J. Shulkin was nominated to lead Veterans Health Administration last month. This nomination was overshadowed by negative press of the administration and saw little publicity.

If affirmed, Shulkin will serve as the next leader of Veterans Health Administration as the agency’s under secretary of health. He would replace interim under secretary Carolyn Clancy. Clancy was appointed following the sudden resignation of Robert Petzel following confirmation of the wait list death scandal initially uncovered in Phoenix, Arizona.

Most interesting, Shulkin founded a company website, DoctorQuality.com, that allowed users to check in on physicians’ backgrounds. He also served as head of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Medical College of Pennsylvania.

The focus of Shulkin’s work tends to be on practitioner accountability:

Shulkin’s work has frequently involved looking at managed and accountable care, in which patients, especially the chronically ill, get the right care at the right time, while avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors. In 2008, for example, he studied why patients who are admitted at night are more likely to die than patients admitted during the day. Also in 2008 he edited the book Questions Patients Need to Ask: Getting the Best Healthcare.

Since July 2010, Shulkin has been president of the Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center, which is part of Atlantic Health System. One of his innovations there was to champion 24-hour visiting hours for its healing effect on patients.

Shulkin is heavily involved with Atlantic Health System, as he is president not just of Morristown Medical Center, but of Goryeb Children’s Hospital and Atlantic Rehabilitation Institute, as well as Atlantic Health System Accountable Care Organization and Atlantic Health organization Primary Care Partners, and he is principal shareholder in Practice Associates.

What do you think of this new selection? I for one support any leader with a track record of encouraging accountability. Here, Dr. Shulkin has a proven track record as an entrepreneur creating solutions to encourage increased accountability.

Senate confirmation hearings are apparently forthcoming.

SOURCE: https://www.allgov.com/news/appointments-and-resignations/undersecretary-for-health-department-of-veterans-affairs-who-is-david-shulkin-150330?news=856092

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24 Comments

  1. Good Evening my fellow Veterans, My name is Danny Toliver, I am a 100% Disabled-Veteran Marine. I have been following Ben’s blog for approx. 4 years now and his blog is very informative. I am deeply sadden that many of my fellow Veterans including my a father a Veteran whom have paved the way for many of us to become Veterans and we have the Department of Veterans Affairs treating us like “Shit”…. As Veterans we continued to be disrespected will allowing the United States of America to remain a “Free World”. Many countries force their young men into serving their Armed Forces, and besides Vietnam Draft, that I am aware of because my age many Veterans have sacrificed their lives, spouses and family in order to continue to allow the USA to be a free world and to have rights.

    I am appalled that we as Veterans have allowed the Department of Veterans Affairs to “Disrespect” us. Imagine being in the United Truckers Union or a Tractor Trailer Driver and they stop delivering the products we need, it would cripple the economy, so the hell can’t we band together and start a peaceful movement????

    I promised my father on his deathbed awaiting a bed at VAMC Philadelphia Nursing Home, I will fight the VA no matter what…Many of us for whatever reasons have given up and let the VA and its employees treat us like shit. We have so called VA Attorneys who are scared to fight for us whether they have a large or small practice and many of our legislators that are Veterans have forgotten that they too where Veterans…Whether we as veterans are attorneys, advocates or voice we need to Make sure our fellow veterans are taken care of. Just because I have my 100% does not allow me to forget my fellow veterans who are trying obtaining just 10% working up to that magical 100%. It took me 27 years to obtain my 100% and I am still and will continue to fight for the rights of all veterans.

    I was so pissed about this subject that I had to go against my attorney wishes not to post this but I had to remember he works for me. Not that I discount his representation of my VA Appeals, my fellow veterans are very important to me because they are dying and committing suicide at 22 per day and we have approx. 21,000,000 Veterans. Sometimes it’s embarrassing to call myself a veteran when the country we serve have turned a blind eye on veterans. Yes we may have some veterans saying that the VA are doing things for them, WTF the same VA and Employees would not have a job if it was not for the Sweat, Honor, Bloodshed and The Sacrifice of Their Family…We talk the Bullshit of the VA reprisals against Veterans but we must Take A Stand or Do We Let, Sec McDonald, Allison Hickey, and other VA Leadership keep feeding us Bullshit and the same lame line “We are sorry for what you are going through” but still disrespecting Veterans”? No disrespect to Ben who is doing a good job with reporting and meeting with various VA and US Government Officials and he cannot fight the VA Battle by himself. So, the bullshit should stop with us and we need to fight back, not physically but with emails, letters, news media and social media…We have to stop being scared and fight back, we are in this war against the VA and they are winning it…Think back when you as a veteran where fighting for your lives and you wanted to get back home to your love ones, so why can’t we feel that way against the Department of Veterans Affairs. See, I fight back at them because I have nothing to loose but all to gain and that is to help my fellow veterans. My business plan model is “Am I My Veterans Keeper, Yes I Am” I will fight until I am Taps End…

    It’s amazing how we as veterans place our trust with the traditional veterans groups who claim to work on our behalf but as soon as we step outside the box and attempt to fight for what we feel is right, the go south on us eventhough some veterans are members.

    If any veteran would like to talk or email me their thoughts you may contact me my information is below. I understand some veterans may not share my views but remember it’s nothing wrong with disagreeing because eventually we will come to a compromise and meet in the middle and the common goal is the what “Am I My Veterans Keeper, Yes I am”…..

    Danny Toliver, USMC Retired 100% Disabled Veteran 2014
    (215) 264-8192
    [email protected]

  2. What’s the catch of this Disney Land Episode? Stay tuned to this Bat Channel!

    Looks like some new cheer leaders now. Go Team Go!

  3. i spoke to Secretary McDonald about this decision the other week. He is the one who recommended this medical professional.
    Dr. Clancy will still play in a major role in the upper portion of the VA. Dr. Clancy and Secretary McDonald both have been doing a great job trying to right the wrongs with the VA. They have both worked directly with me on the issues I have brought forward to them on Desert Storm veterans. We should have the report from the brain cancer task force this spring and find out if brain cancer will be made presumptive for Desert Storm Veterans.

    1. VA DEATHCARE IS A FEDERAL RICO CRIME RACKET TO KILL VETS FOR THE BONOUS $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

  4. Dr Carolyn Clancy, General Hickey and Secretary Bob McDonald have just recently helped me get a referral to CRC ORLANDO DR GALLAGHER because I have been suffering terribly with a very large mass in my rectum and colon. The ERIE VAMC has been treating it as hemmeroids.for 13 yrs. The ERIE VAMC did a Colonoscopy Jan 16th Dr Durmis who took three biopsies. The PITTSBURGH VAMC did the labs on the biopsies with unclear results. It was totally unprofessional. The BUFFALO VAMC saw me on Feb 23 and wanted to do another Colonoscopy and cut out my colon and rectum. This is the same VAMC that kept my medical reports from me for 26 years. They refused to send them to me for years. I believe the VAMC s are inadequate and unprofessional. There needs to be more accountability immediately. Dr Clancy is an outstanding LEADER. GENERAL HICKEY is changing the VA for the better. Secretary McDonald will succeed in helping our vets

  5. Like “transparency”, “accountability depends on how it is applied to make it real or an illusion.

  6. PubMed lists 66 journal articles that have been published by Dr. Shulkin some of which do raise some red flags such as one titled “The Ethics Reform Act’s Strain on academic medicine and the VA”.

    The remainder of the articles, written by Dr. Shulkin, seem to support managed care and limiting Doctors choices in not only what to prescribe but also setting limits of care to provide patients.

    Dr. Shulkin is not some one you would choose if you are concerned about the proper care and treatment of patients at the VA.

  7. Well, I decided to comment on Ben’s question; “What do you think of this new selection?”

    I live in Northeast Pennsylvania, but use Atlantic Healthcare in NJ for my non-VA care (I have switched most of my care to private doctors). Morristown Hospital has always been a premier care facility and the doctors associated with the Hospital have all been top notch practitioners.

    I can go to any doctor that is associated with Atlantic Healthcare and immediately they have all my information, including MRI, CT and X-rays they can see and read immediately. One other thing, I have never felt I was being treated like a 2nd class citizen when I went to their facilities.

    So will the doctor do a good job? He will if he isn’t beaten down by the bureaucracy and the politics inside the VA. At best I give him a 25 – 75 chance of making meaningful changes. Most likely he will realize the VA isn’t about healthcare, it is about providing employment to marginally skilled healthcare professionals.

    1. I was an RN at Morristown Hospital from 1996 – 1999 and almost 20 years later can say it was the finest hospital I have ever worked at. I spent 11 years in private sector healthcare before going to the VA out of a sense of obligation to “give back” as I am a combat veteran myself. That being said, I give Dr. Sulking at best only a 10% chance of making meaningful changes for the following reason:

      The VA Healthcare System’s main problem is not it’s “Playbook” – it’s the systemic and endemic CORRUPTION of the management, right down to front line supervisors like Nurse Managers, who are not selected for competence but for a willingness to “make the numbers” regardless of the quality of care (or lack thereof) delivered. On paper the VA “playbook” is as good as any. The problem is that at the operating level the “Playbook” totally ignored.

      The ideal Senior Executives for the VA would be former prosecutors, preferrably those with RICO experience. The level of management below them could be the Medical, Administrative and IT experts, but the people at the top need to come from Law Enforcement backgrounds.

      Sadly I think Dr. Sulkin and Secretary McDonald are both doomed to fail, not because of lack of ability, but because they do not seem to comprehend – and therefore are not taking action – on the “Root Cause” of the VA’s problems: CORRUPT MANAGEMENT AT ALL LEVELS.

      1. you are right.. these people do not have a job, they have a position. they have a sinecure and they are nested into it forever. rather like ticks and ingrown toenails ..radical measures are needed to remove them

  8. Ben

    I believe this maybe a political appointment and not a good one. You are aware his website that rates doctors also rates many VA doctors and who knows if he has in fact given those doctors good ratings him self or via his internet company since he runs the website. In addition you are aware Ben that the Philadelphia VAMC under investigation for years by OIG and OIG doing nothing is tied into the University of Pennsylvania . The Phialdlephia VAMC has many University of Pennsylvania ties which you should investigate One is
    the Chief of Behavioral Services at the VAMC Philadelphia Dr Oslan. I have had run-ins with him( via his cell phone he handed out) about the patient advocate breaking my confidentiality, privacy and going into my medical records without my permission or authorization. nor any signed authorization or knowledge of such . His response was that he, the patient advocate or any VA employe can go into my record or any veterans medical record without their knowledge , without any permission or authorization at anytime. This is the answer from a person tied into the University of pennsylvania and hurting veterans and appears tied into this new nominee I suggest you look further.

    Lee Horowitz, M.Ed, CAGS
    US Navy, Disabled vietnam Era Veteran
    Veterans advocate and civil rights advocate
    [email protected]

    1. Lee,
      They can request CAPRI access with the approval of the Director of Health Information Governance, but VHA National Data Systems Health Information Access Office tracks and manages this function. OIG has only Fugitive Felon , OIG audit Healthcare Inspection access, but they require a signed Special user access request. Other users can be restricted at your request. See VHA Handbook 1605.1. I am currently in the process of submitting a complaint to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, due to the Unconstitutional PRF system that discriminates against veterans and Disruptive Behavioral Committes being formed if the vet in anyway protests his/her care. Philly BTW is ready to get there skirts handed to them when that report comes out, but nothing will happen because the OIG will deflect and blame and say “see, we have been reporting this for years” and will distribute old reports from a decade ago. Good luck to you!

      1. CorpsmanuP (@Tang1967)

        Contact me and our group – very important We are working on same things.

        Lee Horowitz M.Ed, CAGS
        US Navy- Disabled Vietnam Veteran
        Vetrans advocate/civil rights advocate
        [email protected]

      2. Good Evening my fellow Veterans, My name is Danny Toliver, I am a 100% Disabled-Veteran Marine. I have been following Ben’s blog for approx. 4 years now and his blog is very informative. I am deeply sadden that many of my fellow Veterans including my a father a Veteran whom have paved the way for many of us to become Veterans and we have the Department of Veterans Affairs treating us like “Shit”…. As Veterans we continued to be disrespected will allowing the United States of America to remain a “Free World”. Many countries force their young men into serving their Armed Forces, and besides Vietnam Draft, that I am aware of because my age many Veterans have sacrificed their lives, spouses and family in order to continue to allow the USA to be a free world and to have rights.

        I am appalled that we as Veterans have allowed the Department of Veterans Affairs to “Disrespect” us. Imagine being in the United Truckers Union or a Tractor Trailer Driver and they stop delivering the products we need, it would cripple the economy, so the hell can’t we band together and start a peaceful movement????

        I promised my father on his deathbed awaiting a bed at VAMC Philadelphia Nursing Home, I will fight the VA no matter what…Many of us for whatever reasons have given up and let the VA and its employees treat us like shit. We have so called VA Attorneys who are scared to fight for us whether they have a large or small practice and many of our legislators that are Veterans have forgotten that they too where Veterans…Whether we as veterans are attorneys, advocates or voice we need to Make sure our fellow veterans are taken care of. Just because I have my 100% does not allow me to forget my fellow veterans who are trying obtaining just 10% working up to that magical 100%. It took me 27 years to obtain my 100% and I am still and will continue to fight for the rights of all veterans.

        I was so pissed about this subject that I had to go against my attorney wishes not to post this but I had to remember he works for me. Not that I discount his representation of my VA Appeals, my fellow veterans are very important to me because they are dying and committing suicide at 22 per day and we have approx. 21,000,000 Veterans. Sometimes it’s embarrassing to call myself a veteran when the country we serve have turned a blind eye on veterans. Yes we may have some veterans saying that the VA are doing things for them, WTF the same VA and Employees would not have a job if it was not for the Sweat, Honor, Bloodshed and The Sacrifice of Their Family…We talk the Bullshit of the VA reprisals against Veterans but we must Take A Stand or Do We Let, Sec McDonald, Allison Hickey, and other VA Leadership keep feeding us Bullshit and the same lame line “We are sorry for what you are going through” but still disrespecting Veterans”? No disrespect to Ben who is doing a good job with reporting and meeting with various VA and US Government Officials and he cannot fight the VA Battle by himself. So, the bullshit should stop with us and we need to fight back, not physically but with emails, letters, news media and social media…We have to stop being scared and fight back, we are in this war against the VA and they are winning it…Think back when you as a veteran where fighting for your lives and you wanted to get back home to your love ones, so why can’t we feel that way against the Department of Veterans Affairs. See, I fight back at them because I have nothing to loose but all to gain and that is to help my fellow veterans. My business plan model is “Am I My Veterans Keeper, Yes I Am” I will fight until I am Taps End…

        It’s amazing how we as veterans place our trust with the traditional veterans groups who claim to work on our behalf but as soon as we step outside the box and attempt to fight for what we feel is right, the go south on us eventhough some veterans are members.

        If any veteran would like to talk or email me their thoughts you may contact me my information is below. I understand some veterans may not share my views but remember it’s nothing wrong with disagreeing because eventually we will come to a compromise and meet in the middle and the common goal is the what “Am I My Veterans Keeper, Yes I am”…..

        Danny Toliver, USMC Retired 100% Disabled Veteran 2014
        (215) 264-8192
        [email protected]

  9. I also think it will be a “let’s wait and see” type of thing. I am not sure how he will do but the person he is replacing was not that good at doing the job. If he does follow the status quo, then nothing will change but the name. He does have some background in the HealthCare field and I do not know what Clancy had in this field. I like many others have e-mailed Clancy and got the generic response in which anyone could see that nothing was looked into and she responded with the latest entries in my record. She did not look into the issue at all. I also wonder how much did Clancy get for her “retirement”. More than she deserved I’m sure.

  10. Sounds like a good choice and it wouldn’t take much to be better than McDonald who needs to go already. Will have to give it a shot and see what he can accomplish.

  11. Well, it’s more of a ‘wait and see game’, right? His curriculum vitae may look stunning, but will he want to “Play Disney” with Secretary McDonald? Sounds/reads like he is actually MUCH MORE qualified specifically for the task with his medical background than the minions before him and by the pictures, he ties a bad tie…so that tells me he is more of a ‘real person’ than anything else.
    Does he actually know the quagmire he is stepping foot into? The VA and ‘Accountability’ go together like the positive and negative battery posts in one’s car does…and I think we NEED accountability but with the recent outsourcing of Claims via Xerox-now-somewhere *MAGICAL IN FRANCE*, I am disturbed enough to look upon anyone with trepidation when it comes to the VA. Just being honest. Would it be so much to ask that individuals nominated to these positions are actually Veterans of some respectable variety?
    Is this only for the remainder of this Presidential Administration’s term and/or next MAGICAL SCANDAL that comes with a throw-away cell phone?

  12. Why do more heart attacks happen on a Monday morning? Oh, and not everyone has symptoms! Why do they hire unprofessional staff who automatically think the patient is a “liar” when they tell these idiots the laws of the land? Yeah, WTF EVER. I CAN SAY WITHOUT A DOUBT, I KNOW THE RULES AND THE PROTOCOLS. READY TO DANCE TO MY MUSIC? LET’S PLAY LIKE THE VA DOES! 🙂

  13. Gee, wouldn’t it be better to heal the patients before a chronic illness or the terminally ill? Better yet? “TRAIN YOUR STAFF TO LEARN HOW TO READ, COMPREHEND, AND PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS. CLANCY DID JACK SHIT EXCEPT SAY WE ARE SORRY FOR YOUR EXPERIENCE.” I BET YOU ARE, BECAUSE I DO HAVE A WHOLE LOT OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE ONE THING I CAN SAY, “VA YOUR GOOSE IS COOKED AND REALLY ON DAMN FIRE!” ( please do not even attempt to discredit my name, because as stated you never know who will step forward, as in plural, so you know I do not play your idiot games!) OFF WITH THEIR HEADS, ALICE YOU ARE IN WONDERLAND!

    1. Well, at “VA Land” they are indeed all Mad as a Hatter and some even blatantly wear a Cheshire Cat Grin right to your face. Maybe that’s why Secretary McDonald seems so hell-bent on the “Disney-fication of the VA”…so many characters simply fit. However, only we Veterans would be again mere spectators to their circle-*erk!

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