McCaskill urges new VA clinics, including in Cape

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and others sent a letter last week to the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees, urging them to approve a provision to build 26 VA clinics, including one in Cape Girardeau.

The national legislation was proposed in June after allegations of long wait times and secret waiting lists at Veterans Affairs hospitals. The bill is still in conference. A staff member in McCaskill's office said the information they have on the status of the conference committee is based on news accounts.

But there seem to be significant disagreements between the House and Senate.

"We are hopeful, though, that the conferees can come to an agreement," the staff member said.

In the VA's fiscal year 2015 budget request, the proposal includes leasing about 43,000 square feet, including 290 parking spaces, for a community-based outpatient clinic in Cape Girardeau to support the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

"The proposed lease would enhance existing VA outpatient services in the Cape Girardeau area by addressing wait time, utilization, space and parking gaps," the proposal description says. "The project will include an expansion of specialty care, rehabilitative services, primary care, mental health, ancillary services, women's health, home health services, and space for Veteran Services Officer(s), and Veterans Benefits Administration."

Specialty services in the proposed project are oncology, rehabilitation medicine, homeless services, mental health clinic, opioid substitution program, psychology, substance abuse clinic, primary care, radiology, general surgery, orthopedics and urology.

"Our veterans communities have waited for too long for construction and expansion of their local clinic facilities," the Senators wrote. "These extended delays, caused by a CBO [Congressional Budget Office] scoring change that halted the routine authorization of these clinics, have prevented our veterans from receiving the care they paid for with their service to our country."

The timeline for leasing and construction by the VA is open-ended, and some clinics have been delayed by a lengthy review of VA leasing practices conducted by the General Services Administration, according to a news release on the letter,

"We must take this opportunity to set firm timelines and streamline the completion of these clinics governmentwide. Therefore, we urge you to include language in the final version of the veterans' legislation to expedite the contract, award and construction process for all pending VA clinics," the release states.

On related fronts, McCaskill recently introduced legislation mandating the firing of any VA employee who retaliates against a whistle-blower. Currently, a finding of retaliation against a whistle-blower can result in a variety of actions, including fines and reprimand.

McCaskill also introduced legislation with Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire, to take back bonuses paid to employees at the VA involved in manipulating electronic wait lists. Similar legislation has been proposed by other members of Congress.

The legislation requires VA employees who received bonuses in 2011 or later to repay them if they contributed to a deliberate omission from an electronic waiting list the names of veterans waiting for health care. The employee's superiors also are required to pay back bonuses if they knew or should have known of their subordinates' purposeful omission of the names of veterans from electronic wait lists.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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