VA seeks removal of three top Phoenix execs

• The VA will seek to fire three top executives from the Phoenix VA Health Care System
• Those executives held key positions while the Phoenix system was the epicenter of a wait-list scandal

The Department of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday that it will seek the firing of three top executives of the Phoenix VA Health Care System amid fallout from the hospital's wait-list scandal and patient deaths that galvanized nationwide reforms of the troubled veterans health system.

The VA issued "notices of proposed removal" for Phoenix VA Associate Director Lance Robinson; Dr. Darren Deering, the hospital's chief of staff; and Brad Curry, chief of health administration services. These executives will no longer serve in those positions but may fight their removals under a federal appeals process, officials said.

“Frankly, I am disappointed that it took as long as it did for proposed actions to be made but I am satisfied that we carefully reviewed a massive amount of evidence to ensure the accountability actions are supported," Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said in a statement. "These cases have served as a distraction to the progress being made to improve the care we provide in Phoenix and across the nation.

In April 2014, whistleblowers disclosed to Congress and The Arizona Republic that veterans faced long delays for appointments and some had died while on secret wait lists. Follow-up probes showed that the VA in Phoenix and at hospitals nationwide had manipulated wait-time data. The revelations led to the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, as well as nationwide audits, congressional reviews and a $16 billion VA reform bill.

Dr. Katherine Mitchell, a whistleblower who helped expose mismanagement and patient-safety issues at the Phoenix hospital, welcomed news of the proposed firings.

“I am greatly relieved because I think those are good decisions for veterans who are served by the VA,” said Mitchell, who was director of the Phoenix VA hospital's emergency department through December 2012. She now serves as specialty-care coordinator for the VA's regional office in Arizona.

Should the ousted VA administrators fight their removals through civil-service protections afforded to federal workers, Mitchell said she hoped that the VA defends its rationale for the removals rather than bungling the investigations.

Gibson changed VA policy in January to ensure employees targeted in administrative investigations are assigned to other, non-patient care duties while the investigations continue.

The Phoenix VA Health Care System has already appointed individuals to serve in the roles previously held by Robinson and Curry. Agency spokesman Paul Coupaud identified the Phoenix VA's acting associate director as Donald Taylor. He said Susanne Brice is acting chief of health administration services.

Deering held the position of chief of staff until the VA announced Tuesday afternoon that it would seek his firing.  Coupaud said he expects an interim chief of staff to be appointed soon, possibly as early as Wednesday.

U.S. Rep Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, praised the firings as "clearly the right thing" for Phoenix-area veterans and VA employees who want to serve veterans.

"But we cannot forget the fact that it took nearly two years of investigations just to get to this point, and this is just the beginning of the disciplinary process," Miller said. "The truth is, because of arcane civil service protections that put the job security of corrupt bureaucrats before the safety of veterans, it will take many months and possibly years for VA to complete these proposed disciplinary actions."

Sharon Helman, ex-Phoenix VA hospital director, pleads guilty

Deering will still be allowed to draw his pay while he is the subject of the administrative investigation, a process that can be drawn out 700 days or longer. An Asbury Park Press database of federal employees shows that Deering collected a salary of $246,000 per year in his position as chief of staff.

Last month, former Phoenix VA Director Sharon Helman, who was fired in 2014, pleaded guilty to filing a false financial disclosure that failed to list more than $50,000 in gifts she had received from a lobbyist.

Members of Arizona's congressional delegation praised the proposed new firings, but also lamented how long it took for the federal agency to pursue them.

The Phoenix VA Health Care System has worked to expand access to care for veterans by hiring additional staff and extending clinic hours. Still, lawmakers pointed out that administrators who held key positions during the wait-list scandal had not been removed.

U.S. Sen. John McCain said the proposed firings were an "overdue action" and that federal legislation was passed to allow the agency to more easily target inept administrators.

"The VA clearly has a long way to go to fully utilize all of the tools at its disposal to change the culture of corruption that led to this grave scandal and clean up the widespread mismanagement that continues to fail our veterans," McCain said.

VA watchdog sits on wait-time investigation reports for months