Benefits
Trump administration now says it won’t scrap VA anti-corruption law
“Such a waiver would foster a culture of corruption in the VA,” said Melissa Bryant, political director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Benefits
5th senator slams blanket ethics waiver on for-profit college payments
The move, Sen. Tom Carper writes, represents “a drastic departure from the intent of Congress and weakens important ethics standards.”
Health Care
Obama signs new opiate safety law for veterans
President Barack Obama has signed sweeping new narcotics reforms into law that dramatically change the way the Department of Veterans Affairs dispenses and monitors dangerous and addictive opiates.
Education
Defense Department now reviewing University of Phoenix recruiting
The Defense Department has confirmed that it is reviewing whether recruitment practices by the University of Phoenix, the country’s largest benefactor of GI Bill funds, comply with federal law.
Benefits
Senators seek investigation of GI Bill funds at unaccredited schools
Eight U.S. senators are demanding that the Department of Veterans Affairs launch an inquiry into revelations that GI Bill tuition subsidies have flowed to questionable unaccredited schools.
Opiates
Congressional hearing reveals 4 more deaths at Tomah, Wisconsin, VA
A congressional hearing today revealed more unexpected deaths at the Tomah, Wisconsin, VA – known as “Candy Land” for the ease with which narcotic painkillers were prescribed – during Dr. David Houlihan’s decade as the hospital’s chief of staff.
Opiates
Nearly 100,000 veterans prescribed dangerous tranquilizer-opiate combo
Nearly 100,000 veterans currently are receiving prescriptions for both tranquilizers and narcotic painkillers from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a potentially deadly combination that is explicitly discouraged by agency guidelines.
Health Care
Wisconsin VA’s opiate overprescription harmed patients, report finds
A preliminary report by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs revealed that runaway opiate prescriptions and a culture of fear created by hospital leadership compromised patient care and harmed the staff at the Tomah, Wisconsin, VA.
Health Care
VA gave $8,025 bonus to director of troubled Wisconsin hospital
Mario DeSanctis, director of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Tomah, Wisconsin, said his performance bonus was “warranted and justified” even though the facility was being investigated over runaway painkiller prescriptions and patient overdoses.
Health Care
VA inspector general finally releases report on Wisconsin hospital
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ inspector general’s office has publicly released its scathing report documenting runaway painkiller prescriptions and abuse of administrative authority at the VA hospital in Tomah, Wisconsin, nearly a year after it closed the case.