Veterans Affairs hands out bonuses, despite scandals

The scandalized Veterans Affairs agency, which left former service members in the hands of degenerate care, has awarded 2 million in bonuses to employees serving in corrupt clinics throughout the country. And in St. Cloud, Minn., where an internal investigation report past year outlined mismanagement that led to mass resignations of health care providers, the chief of staff cited by investigators received a performance bonus of almost $4,000.

In the current Congress, the House has passed a number of bills that include language to rein in the department until better results are obtained, including recouping bonuses paid to employees, changing the cap on bonuses from $360 million to $300 million, and limiting senior-level bonuses to $2 million per year. “So, we’ve got to find that sweet spot, not giving bonuses to people who don’t deserve them but make sure we’re compensating adequately to get the very best employees because that’s what veterans deserve”, said McCaskill.

But in a statement, the VA said it needs to pay bonuses to attract and retain top talent and notes, it did suspend bonuses previous year to a few senior executives following revelations that employees falsified wait lists to meet target.

In 2013, one of the top bonuses – of $12,579 – went to Jack Hetrick, the regional VA director for OH who is based in Sycamore Township.

The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is now considering three of the House-approved bills.

The scandal over patient delays that led to deaths sparked reform legislation in Congress.

The list of the latest bonuses was compiled by the House Veterans Affairs Committee and its Republican chair, Jeff Miller.

“Rewarding failure only breeds more failure”. In all, around 156-thousand v-a employees received bonuses that were tied to performance reviews. The president ordered a massive overhaul previous year, after reports that many vets were forced to wait months for treatment.

– In Tomah, Wis., the former chief of staff of the VA medical center there, Dr. David Houlihan – whom veterans nicknamed the “Candy Man” because of his prolific prescribing of narcotics – received a $4,000 bonus in December. But two subsequent investigations cleared the Cincinnati VA facility of wrongdoing, concluding there was no manipulation or falsification of records to hide the time it took for veterans to get health care. He also wants the agency to take back bonuses deemed inappropriate after they are awarded.