VA

September 17, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is warning Veterans not to give credit card numbers over the phone to callers claiming to update VA prescription information.

"America’s Veterans have become targets in an inexcusable scam that dishonors their service and misrepresents the Department built for them," said Dr. Gerald Cross, VA’s Under Secretary for Health. "VA simply does not call Veterans and ask them to disclose personal financial information over the phone."

Veteran Service Organizations have brought to VA's attention that callers are misrepresenting the VA to gain personal information over the phone. They say VA recently changed procedures for dispensing prescriptions and ask for the Veteran's credit card number.    » read more »

June 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has initiated a large, long-term study to look carefully at a broad array of health issues that may affect Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans and their counterparts who served during the same time period. VA’s “National Health Study for a New Generation of U.S. Veterans” will begin with 30,000 Veterans deployed to OEF/OIF and 30,000 comparison Veterans who were not deployed.    » read more »

June 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) issued the following statement today on recently announced plans by the Department of Veterans Affairs to overhaul its information technology project management:

"IT improvements have the potential to dramatically improve the care and benefits veterans receive, but too often, IT failings have actually hurt VA's reputation and service quality," said Chairman Akaka. "I commend VA's leadership for acknowledging existing shortcomings and setting higher standards for the Department. This push for reform could bring us closer to the systemic transformation Secretary Shinseki and President Obama promised for veterans and their families."    » read more »

Secretary Donovan Elected New Chair of the Council; HUD and VA announce $75 million for HUD-VASH program to provide rental housing and support for homeless veterans

June 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) met today for the first time under the Obama Administration. U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki chaired the meeting, at which U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan was elected rotating Chair for the upcoming year and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was elected Vice Chair. U.

S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Melody Barnes, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, attended the meeting.    » read more »

June 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which now has nearly 8 million Veterans enrolled in its award-winning health care system, is poised to welcome nearly 266,000 more Veterans into its medical centers and clinics across the country by expanding access to health care enrollment for certain Veterans who had been excluded due to their income.

“This incremental approach to expanding enrollment ensures that access to VA health care for a greater number of beneficiaries does not sacrifice timely access or quality medical care for those Veterans already enrolled in VA’s health care system,” Dr. Gerald Cross, VA’s Acting Under Secretary for Health, said. “Over the next four years, we hope to provide enrollment to more than 500,000 Veterans.”    » read more »

Interested Colleges and Universities Must Sign Up for Yellow Ribbon Program before June 15 Deadline for 2009-2010 Term

June 5, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that it has entered into more than 700 agreements with institutions of higher learning across the nation to participate in the Post-9/11 GI Bill’s “Yellow Ribbon Program.”

Many schools signed agreements for participation in not only undergraduate programs, but graduate and doctoral programs as well. Some schools entered into one agreement that covered all their campuses throughout the United States.    » read more »

Grants Will Continue Collaboration with VA to Support America’s Veterans

June 4, 2009 --
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki today announced a landmark collaboration to help the families of older Americans and Veterans with disabilities of all ages care for their loved ones in the community.

This partnership builds on the similar missions of HHS and the VA with regard to caring for the populations they serve and has as its ultimate goal a nationwide home and community-based long-term-care support program to serve older Americans and veterans of all ages.    » read more »

May 28, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki today told U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, that he wants to try to ease the serious VA healthcare access problems facing veterans in rural Alaska.

At a meeting in the senator’s office, Murkowski invited Shinseki to visit Alaska and see those challenges first hand. Shinseki said he would like to visit the state.

Murkowski used the 45-minute meeting with Shinseki to reiterate a variety of concerns regarding VA healthcare in Alaska.    » read more »

May 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney Will A. Gunn, a retired Air Force colonel, took the oath of office yesterday as General Counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) following his recent Senate confirmation.

“I’m thrilled by the opportunity to serve as VA’s General Counsel,” Gunn said. “I’m also humbled and deeply honored by the confidence that President Obama and Secretary Shinseki have shown in me with this appointment.

“Veterans hold a special place in my heart,” he added. “I look forward to helping lead a transformation at VA to make the department more people-centric, results oriented, and forward looking than ever before. I look forward to serving as VA’s General Counsel and consider it both a blessing and a sacred trust.”    » read more »

New Mobility for Veterans, Service Members, Other Americans

May 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced a three-year study of an advanced artificial arm that easily allows those with severe limb loss to pick up a key or hold a pencil.

“This arm is a high-tech example of how VA researchers are continually modernizing the materials, design, and clinical use of artificial limbs to meet Veterans’ lifestyle and medical needs,” says Dr. Joel Kupersmith, VA’s Chief Research and Development Officer.    » read more »

May 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has a message for Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki when they meet next week in her office here: Get serious about fixing the serious VA healthcare access problems facing veterans in rural Alaska.

Murkowski, a member of the Senate Appropriations Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, laid out her concerns in a letter she sent to Shinseki today (see attachment).

Alaska’s senior senator expressed deep disappointment that a new $215 million VA funding initiative for veterans in rural areas would do little to ease the access problems for rural Alaska veterans, many of whom live in remote villages and have no direct road access to VA healthcare facilities.    » read more »

May 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – From parades to somber ceremonies and a moment of silence, Americans will recall the sacrifices of military members who paid the ultimate price for freedom on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25.

“From May 23 to May 30, commemorative events at VA national cemeteries will present a sacred responsibility for employees and volunteers to honor these greatest of American heroes,” said Steve Muro, VA’s acting under secretary for memorial affairs. “Since the birth of Memorial Day in 1866, national cemeteries have been the most visible expression of our country’s gratitude for their service.”    » read more »

Bills would help rural veterans and caregivers, and provide advance funding for VA care

May 21, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, chaired by Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), approved comprehensive legislation to better enable the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide for the needs of veterans and their families.

The bills approved today will help veterans in rural areas receive better health care, establish a permanent program to support veterans' caregivers, and secure timely and transparent funding for VA's health care system through advance appropriations.    » read more »

BURLINGTON, May 18, 2009 – As the nation prepares to observe Memorial Day, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today highlighted two important new benefits for veterans in Vermont and across the country.

A new GI Bill will dramatically boost education benefits for veterans who enlisted after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Another reform Sanders fought for as a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee will reopen the doors of VA hospitals and clinics to many middle-class veterans knocked off the eligibility rolls six years ago.    » read more »

May 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, praised his colleagues for confirming four of President Barack Obama's nominees to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) tonight: Roger W. Baker, Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology; Will A. Gunn, General Counsel; Jose D. Riojas, Assistant Secretary for Operations, Security, and Preparedness; and John U. Sepulveda, Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration. They join Secretary Eric Shinseki, Deputy Secretary Scott Gould, and Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth as part of VA's growing team of confirmed leaders.    » read more »