Visiting one of the nation’s most troubled Veteran’s Affairs hospitals, President Barack Obama acknowledged Friday that mistakes had been made and there was “still work to be done” to see that veterans are properly treated.
“Trust is one of those things that you lose real quick and then it takes some time to build,” Obama said after a closed door meeting at the Phoenix, Az. hospital. “The good news is that there are outstanding folks here at this V.A. and all the V.A.’s across the country who are deserving of trust.”
Obama, who was joined at the event by the state’s two Republican senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, noted “significant problems at this facility, that the kind of cooking the books and the unwillingness to face up to the fact… went on too long.”
But he said new VA leadership has begun "chipping away at those problems."
He and VA Secretary Bob McDonald named a committee they said would help the beleaguered agency improve care.
The MyVA advisory committee is charged with advising McDonald on ways to improve customer service, veteran outcomes and set the course “for long-term reform and excellence,” the White House said. The committeeis to hold its first meeting in April.
“The success of MyVA will be veterans who are better served by VA, so the work of this committee is incredibly important,” McDonald said.
House Veterans Affairs Committee chair Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., welcomed Obama’s visit but said he’s concerned the committee of outside experts “is a duplicative step that misses the mark.”
Miller noted that a law Obama signed last August, already requires two reviews of the VA health care system and that the system instead needs accountability. He said that nearly a year after the Phoenix hospital “became the epicenter of VA’s problems,” not a single Phoenix VA employee has been fired for wait time manipulation.
“To this day, key leaders tied to the scandal in Phoenix remain on the job or on paid leave,” Miller said, charging that the administration is “either unwilling or unable to take accountability at VA seriously. There is no way around it: in order for VA reform to succeed, those who caused the department’s massive scandal must be purged from the payroll.
“The members include:
MG Josue “Joe” Robles Jr., who retired from the U.S. Army as a Major General after 28 years and served as CEO of the United States Automobile Association (USAA) until retiring last month. He will serve as committee chairman.
Michael Haynie, Vice Chancellor at Syracuse University and executive director of its Institute for Veterans & Military Families He will serve as vice chairman.
Herman Bulls, International director at the real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle and a director of the West Point Association of Graduates and the Military Bowl.
Teresa Carlson, an Amazon executive and former vice president of federal government business at Microsoft.
Richard H. Carmona, a former U.S. Surgeon General and combat decorated and disabled U.S. Army Special Forces Vietnam Veteran.
Delos “Toby” M. Cosgrove, a doctor and president of the Cleveland Clinic.
Laura Herrera, deputy secretary for Public Health at the Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, a former Acting Deputy Chief Officer of Patient Care Services in the VA’s Veterans Health Administration.
Chris Howard, president, Hampden-Sydney College, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel.
Nancy Killefer, a senior director in the DC office of McKinsey & Company.
Fred Lee, a consultant in the patient and family experience and author of the book, “ If Disney Ran Your Hospital, 9 ½ Things You Would Do Differently.”
Eleanor “Connie” Mariano, founder, Center for Executive Medicine and the first female director of the White House Medical Unit and the first military woman to become a White House Physician to the President.
Jean Reaves, a Vietnam era veteran and veteran advocate who served as veteran liaison for former Sen. Kay Hagan, D-North Carolina.
Maria “Lourdes” Tiglao, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and co-founder of the first USAF Critical Care Medical Attendant Team in the Pacific.
Robert E. Wallace, Assistant Adjutant General and Executive Director, Veterans of Foreign Wars
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