Nothing stopped VA's fat bonuses, not even dead vets, dirty hospitals

Generous bonuses continued flowing to top officials at the Department of Veterans' Affairs health network last year, despite a string of patient deaths and reports of mismanagement, unsanitary conditions and unprofessional practices.  Documents obtained by the Washington Examiner show six top administrators of the Veterans Health Administration received performance bonuses in excess of $16,000 last year.

In all, the top VA executives and medical professionals received more than $3.3 million in bonuses that are supposed to reward exceptional work. The figure does not include rank-and-file employees or other financial incentives not tied to job performance.

A VA spokesman issued a statement to the Examiner late Monday saying the 2012 performance bonuses for some top agency executives “have been suspended pending further review and are not being paid at this time.” That includes some VHA officials.  The statement does not say when or why the bonuses were suspended, or who is affected. The spokesman did not respond to requests for clarification. 

http://washingtonexaminer.com/nothing-stopped-vas-fat-bonuses

The 2012 bonuses for workers in the Veterans' Benefits Administration, which handles disability and pension claims, were cancelled in April amid congressional pressure and public outrage over the lingering backlog of unresolved cases.  VHA is under scrutiny after a series of reports from federal investigators that cited poor sanitation and management practices that contributed to five patient deaths in Pittsburgh and a rash of preventable suicides in Atlanta.

The Government Accountability Office on Friday blasted the agency for routinely awarding bonuses to doctors and other medical professionals who had been disciplined for lapses such as leaving the operating room during surgery and refusing to see patients in the emergency room.  Every medical professional eligible for extra pay received it, regardless of performance or disciplinary history, the GAO reported, citing bonus records at the four hospitals it reviewed. The doctors were not identified.

"This is an abysmal failure by the VHA and a slap in the face to every veteran waiting to have their claim processed," said Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., a former Army surgeon and current member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.