Veterans Health Administration

Nov 16 2017

Veterans Affairs Puts Transgender Awareness Ahead Of Other Issues?

79 Comments / News & Legislation / By Benjamin Krause

Veterans Affairs in at White Junction VA Medical Center is holding a transgender awareness event at its facility instead of one addressing PTSD or MST. Curious that despite massive budgetary […]

Veterans Affairs Puts Transgender Awareness Ahead Of Other Issues? Read More »

Nov 13 2017

New Law Would Force Veterans Affairs To Report Disciplined Doctors

74 Comments / News & Legislation / By Benjamin Krause

A new law proposed by two key senators will force the Department of Veterans Affairs to no longer cover up for bad doctors disciplined by the agency. For years, VA

New Law Would Force Veterans Affairs To Report Disciplined Doctors Read More »

Dirty Surgical Equipment VA Medical Center

Nov 10 2017

Dirty Surgical Equipment At VA Medical Center Force Cancellations

60 Comments / News & Legislation / By Benjamin Krause

Dirty surgical equipment at Washington DC VA Medical Center forced cancellation of at least 9 surgeries Friday following a string of other safety concerns. Surgical equipment in question was discolored.

Dirty Surgical Equipment At VA Medical Center Force Cancellations Read More »

Nov 2 2017

New High-Tech Data Fusion Center To Track VA Health Care Problems

37 Comments / News & Legislation / By Benjamin Krause

Secretary David Shulkin will implement a new data fusion center with similar capabilities down the road to those used nationwide by law enforcement to monitor VA health care problems. USA

New High-Tech Data Fusion Center To Track VA Health Care Problems Read More »

Oct 23 2017

ChampVA Pays $16 of $15,000 Hospital Visit Then Sent To Collections

56 Comments / News & Legislation / By Benjamin Krause

ChampVA, the insurance for dependents of qualified veterans, paid a whopping $16 toward a $15,000 bill before it was sent to collections. My wife and I were contacted by an

ChampVA Pays $16 of $15,000 Hospital Visit Then Sent To Collections Read More »

Oct 17 2017

Veterans Choice Program May Undergo Massive Change Soon

51 Comments / News & Legislation / By Benjamin Krause

Veterans Affairs is looking to expand the use of Veterans Choice Program by removing the 30-day, 40-mile limitations currently impeding program use. VA sent new legislation to Congress yesterday outlining

Veterans Choice Program May Undergo Massive Change Soon Read More »

Art Levine just published a hard-hitting piece on continued problems veterans face in combating opioid addiction fueled by VA. His piece highlights some background and quotes from me and whistleblower Brandon Coleman amongst other advocates. Be sure to check it out, in addition to Levine’s recently published book, Mental Health, Inc. Relevant sections from the piece citing comments from me follow. My critique about President Trump keeping Shulkin, which de facto meant Trump would not be draining the swamp, at least in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Senior executives abiding by “the code” keep secrets quiet while law abiding employees cower in fear of retaliation: To some VA critics, Trump's selection of Shulkin to head the agency makes it unlikely that significant changes will be made. “For veterans who voted for Donald Trump, this is going to feel like a bait and switch,” says Benjamin Krause, founder of DisabledVeterans.org. “Keeping Shulkin will keep a host of flunkies and criminals who should have been part of the whole ‘drain the swamp’ promise.” (His own reputation as an ethically pure reformer was undercut by The Washington Post report in late September that he billed the government for his wife’s travel during a 10-day business jaunt that also included side-trips to the Wimbledon finals and a visit to Copenhagen’s “Little Mermaid” statue; these expenses were somehow approved by the VA’s ethics team but are now under investigation by the department’s Inspector General.) The fetid VA swamp has been spreading for years under the last three VA secretaries, including Shulkin. It’s an institution long notorious for vicious retaliation against whistleblowers and a penchant for falsehoods, obfuscation and delay, as well as rampant cover-ups of unsafe and sometimes deadly conditions—or even fraud—by the VA's watchdog agencies. This is all kept from view by what some longtime employees call “the code”—the institutional silence and protection offered wrongdoers. Likening it to the mob’s “omertà,” one high-ranking VA administrator, who insisted on anonymity, tells Newsweek, “You don’t break ‘the code,’ or your career is over…. It’s a fearful environment. “The code,” that VA official says, “is designed to do this: don’t fix the problems.” Whistleblower retaliation is still allowed because VA has failed to hold anyone truly accountable for their actions: All told, nearly 2,000 VA whistleblowers were forced in fiscal year 2016 alone to appeal to an independent federal agency, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), to protest retaliation while reporting fraud or unsafe conditions—more than the next four problematic federal departments combined. As The Boston Globe reported in September, these employee complaints included nursing home residents at the Bedford, Massachusetts, Veterans Affairs Medical Center allegedly being starved of food for hours or left to lie naked in bed amid the squalor of soiled sheets. Shulkin has established a new office given a mandate to protect whistleblowers, but that hasn’t yet halted the retaliation. “I don't know of a single instance when a VA employee has been held accountable for harassing whistleblowers," says Krause. This turf-protecting has perhaps been most apparent in the VA's belated response to the national opiate crisis it helped usher in. The VA doesn't even keep an accurate count of how many veterans have died of legal or illegal drug overdoses, even though it officially launched an Opioid Safety Initiative in 2013 that has brought the VA's opiate prescribing down 30 percent. Nor does it regularly monitor opiate use by its patients who seek legal or illegal drugs outside the VA. Be sure to check out the Newsweek piece - - and share the heck out of it on social media to show the magazine we notice and support when reports do a great job highlighting our plight. Source: https://www.newsweek.com/2017/10/20/va-fueled-opioid-crisis-killing-veterans-681552.html

Oct 13 2017

Newsweek: How VA Fueled The National Opioid Crisis And Is Killing Thousands Of Veterans

94 Comments / News & Legislation / By Benjamin Krause

Art Levine just published a hard-hitting piece on continued problems veterans face in combating the opioid crisis and addiction fueled by VA. His piece highlights some background and quotes from me

Newsweek: How VA Fueled The National Opioid Crisis And Is Killing Thousands Of Veterans Read More »

Sep 22 2017

Senate Passes Burn Pit Bill To Increase Cooperation Between VA, DOD

59 Comments / Disability / By Benjamin Krause

A new bill passed the Senate Monday aimed at helping VA better identify and address the looming health crisis facing veterans exposed to burn pits overseas. The bill has bipartisan

Senate Passes Burn Pit Bill To Increase Cooperation Between VA, DOD Read More »