First is that Obama knew about what was going on in the VA since he was on the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee
This is one of the first bills he introduced showing what kinds of problems he knew about.
S.692 -- VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2007 (Introduced in Senate - IS)
S 692 IS
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 692
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Veterans Affairs hospitals.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 27, 2007
Mr. OBAMA introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Veterans Affairs hospitals.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2007'.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to establish the Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative under title 38, United States Code, to ensure that quality measures data for hospitals administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs are readily available and accessible in order to--
(1) inform patients and consumers about health care quality in such hospitals;
(2) assist Veterans Affairs health care providers in identifying opportunities for quality improvement and cost containment; and
(3) enhance the understanding of policy makers and public officials of health care issues, raise public awareness of hospital quality issues, and to help constituents of such policy makers and officials identify quality health care options.
SEC. 3. VA HOSPITAL QUALITY REPORT CARD INITIATIVE.
(a) In General- Subchapter III of chapter 17 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
`Sec. 1730A. Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative
`(a) Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of the VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2007, the Secretary shall establish and implement a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative (in this section referred to as the `Initiative') to report on health care quality in VA hospitals.
`(b) For purposes of this section, the term `VA hospital' means a hospital administered by the Secretary.
`(c)(1)(A) Not less than 2 times each year, the Secretary shall publish reports on VA hospital quality. Such reports shall include quality measures data that allow for an assessment of health care--
`(i) effectiveness;
`(ii) safety;
`(iii) timeliness;
`(iv) efficiency;
`(v) patient-centeredness; and
`(vi) equity.
`(B) In collecting and reporting data as provided for under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall include VA hospital information, as possible, relating to--
`(i) staffing levels of nurses and other health professionals, as appropriate;
`(ii) rates of nosocomial infections;
`(iii) the volume of various procedures performed;
`(iv) hospital sanctions and other violations;
`(v) the quality of care for various patient populations, including female, geriatric, disabled, rural, homeless, mentally ill, and racial and ethnic minority populations;
`(vi) the availability of emergency rooms, intensive care units, maternity care, and specialty services;
`(vii) the quality of care in various hospital settings, including inpatient, outpatient, emergency, maternity, and intensive care unit settings;
`(viii) ongoing patient safety initiatives; and
`(ix) other measures determined appropriate by the Secretary.
`(C)(i) In reporting data as provided for under subparagraph (A), the Secretary may risk adjust quality measures to account for differences relating to--
`(I) the characteristics of the reporting VA hospital, such as licensed bed size, geography, and teaching hospital status; and
`(II) patient characteristics, such as health status, severity of illness, and socioeconomic status. `(ii) If the Secretary reports data under subparagraph (A) using risk-adjusted quality measures, the Secretary shall establish procedures for making the unadjusted data available to the public in a manner determined appropriate by the Secretary.
`(D) Under the Initiative, the Secretary may verify data reported under this paragraph to ensure accuracy and validity.
`(E) The Secretary shall disclose the entire methodology for the reporting of data under this paragraph to all relevant organizations and VA hospitals that are the subject of any such information that is to be made available to the public prior to the public disclosure of such information.
`(F)(i) The Secretary shall submit each report to the appropriate committees of Congress.
`(ii) The Secretary shall ensure that reports are made available under this section in an electronic format, in an understandable manner with respect to various populations (including those with low functional health literacy), and in a manner that allows health care quality comparisons to be made with local hospitals or regional hospitals, as appropriate.
`(iii) The Secretary shall establish procedures for making report findings available to the public, upon request, in a non-electronic format, such as through a toll-free telephone number.
`(G) The analytic methodologies and limitations on data sources utilized by the Secretary to develop and disseminate the comparative data under this section shall be identified and acknowledged as part of the dissemination of such data, and include the appropriate and inappropriate uses of such data.
`(H) On at least an annual basis, the Secretary shall compare quality measures data submitted by each VA hospital with data submitted in the prior year or years by the same hospital in order to identify and report actions that would lead to false or artificial improvements in the hospital's quality measurements.
`(2)(A) The Secretary shall develop and implement effective safeguards to protect against the unauthorized use or disclosure of VA hospital data that is reported under this section.
`(B) The Secretary shall develop and implement effective safeguards to protect against the dissemination of inconsistent, incomplete, invalid, inaccurate, or subjective VA hospital data. `(C) The Secretary shall ensure that identifiable patient data shall not be released to the public.
`(d)(1) The Secretary shall evaluate and periodically submit a report to Congress on the effectiveness of the Initiative, including the effectiveness of the Initiative in meeting the purpose described in section 2 of the VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2007. The Secretary shall make such reports available to the public.
`(2) The Secretary shall use the outcomes from the evaluation conducted pursuant to paragraph (1) to increase the usefulness of the Initiative.
`(e) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2016.'.
(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 17, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 1730 the following new item:
`1730A. Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative.'.
Top that off with the fact that all the problems had existed before Obama took over and no one did much before to fix it. This is what veterans have been dealing with for decades. Presidents point their fingers at Congress and Congress points their fingers at Presidents and both parties fail.
You can look up what happened and when but when you think that you're getting the real story from anyone, think again and look it up! As for McCain, we all know what he's been doing and none of it has been good especially when it comes to veterans in his own home state while he not only ignored them, he denied they were having problems all along.
Obama Administration Had Been Briefed on VA Problems in 2008
New American
Written by Raven Clabough
21 July 2014
As if the Obama administration is not in enough hot water over the disastrous Department of Veterans' Affairs, reports now reveal that the administration had been warned about waiting times and fraud immediately after the president was first elected in 2008.
The Veterans Administration has been under harsh scrutiny after reports exposed that the Phoenix facility had been altering its scheduling books and that at least 40 veterans had died while awaiting care. Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said though the scandal began in his home state, it has since become a national crisis. "Altogether, similar reports of lengthy waiting lists and other issues have surfaced in at least 10 states," according to the Washington Times.
What's worse is that the Obama administration had been briefed on the weaknesses of the VA and did nothing to address them.
read more here
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