Washington, D.C. - Yesterday, Rep. Gerry Connolly, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, held a hearing on longstanding deficiencies at the Washington, D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center (DC VAMC), titled “Ensuring Quality Health Care for Our Veterans."
TAKEAWAYS
* Chairman Connolly and Subcommittee Members acknowledged that the DC VAMC has made baseline improvements to the issues highlighted in the 2018 VA OIG Report, such as inventory management and equipment processing. Despite this, problems that cause extreme risks to veterans’ healthcare, specifically pervasive understaffing, persist.
* Chairman Connolly and Subcommittee Members grilled Mr. Heimall on a “culture of complacency" within DC VAMC leadership and interrogated how this culture creates institutional barriers to addressing longstanding problems at the DC VAMC.
* Director Heimall made a commitment to staying in his role as Director of the DC VAMC “until he could truly say that this medical center was once again the flagship of veterans’ healthcare."
WITNESSES
Michael Heimall
Director
Washington, D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Michael Missal
Inspector General
Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General
Ms. Tammy Czarnecki
Assistant Deputy Undersecretary for Health for Administrative Operations
Veterans Health Administration, on behalf of Department of Veterans Affairs
VIDEOS
Watch Chairman Connolly’s opening statement.
Watch Director Heimall’s testimony.
Watch Rep. Holmes Norton’s question line.
Watch Rep. Raskin’s question line.
Watch Chairman Connolly’s question line.
