By Ben Kesling
The Department of Veterans Affairs will launch an independent
review of its scheduling practices beginning in the fall, the VA
announced Friday.
In one of his first major announcements as VA secretary, Robert
McDonald said the Joint Commission, the largest health care
accrediting body in the country, will a make a sweeping,
independent review of the VA's scheduling practices.
"It is important that our scheduling practices be reviewed by a
respected, independent source to help restore trust in our system,"
Mr. McDonald said in a statement.
In April, the first revelations of VA employees tampering with
authorized scheduling procedures and falsifying wait time data led
to a series of reviews and investigations that uncovered systemic
problems in the VA. The subsequent scandal led to the resignation
of a number of top-level VA employees including then-Secretary Eric
Shinseki. Earlier this week, President Barack Obama signed into law
a more than $16 billion measure to improve veteran access to health
care and jump start reform at the VA.
Mr. McDonald, former CEO of Procter & Gamble Co. from 2009
to 2013, announced the scheduling review at an event in Phoenix.
News of the scandal originated at the Phoenix VA when a former
department doctor publicly criticized the hospital's scheduling
practices.
The announcement comes at the beginning of Mr. McDonald's first
major trip since being confirmed as secretary in late July, and
will include addressing the national convention of the Disabled
American Veterans, one of the biggest veterans advocacy groups in
the country.
The new secretary has said he would work to improve
communications at the massive department and said Friday that all
VA medical center directors are required to now notify one of Mr.
McDonald's top lieutenants if access or quality standards fall
short. He has also said all VA health care and benefits facilities
must hold town hall-style events by October to allow veterans at
the ground level to voice their complaints.
The Joint Commission, which Mr. McDonald has tasked with
reviewing scheduling processes, accredits and certifies more than
20,500 health-care entities in the U.S., including hospitals and
laboratories. The Joint Commission wasn't immediately available to
comment.
Write to Ben Kesling at benjamin.kesling@wsj.com
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