New VA Secretary promises quick action

LTG Peake VA Secretary Nominee promises Congress qick action on the problems plaguing the VA, we have heard the same promises from every Nominee before him, The VA Colonel Jim Nicholson made the same promise, Anthony Principi before him, and they have all left the claims process backlogged worse than when they arrived, will LTG Peake be different?

VA Nominee Pledges Quick Health Reforms

By HOPE YEN



WASHINGTON (AP) — Ret. Army Lt. Gen. James Peake pledged to move quickly to fix gaps in veterans' health care if confirmed as Veterans Affairs secretary, saying urgent action is needed to improve medical record-keeping and pare down the VA's monthslong delay in disability payments.

In a 28-page disclosure obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, the former U.S. Army surgeon general from 2000 to 2004 also denied having "firsthand" knowledge of shoddy outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. And he sought to allay concerns of possible conflicts of interest due to his position as chief medical officer of QTC Management, which has held millions of dollars of contracts with the VA.

"If confirmed, I will terminate any connection with QTC, will have no ongoing or residual financial interest in QTC and will recuse myself in any matters related to QTC," Peake wrote to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Peake, 63, took a leave of absence from QTC without pay after he was nominated by President Bush last month to head the embattled VA.

To alleviate other possible conflicts of interest, Peake also told the Senate committee that he would divest stock holdings in more than 57 companies, many of them major pharmaceutical companies such as Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Bristol Myers, Medtronic, Wyeth and Pfizer, that either currently or might do business with the VA, said a Senate staffer who demanded anonymity because the information had not been made public.

The panel is scheduled to consider Peake's nomination on Wednesday.

The nomination of Peake, a medical doctor who has spent 40 years in military medicine, comes as the administration and Congress struggle to resolve some of the worst problems afflicting wounded warriors, such as boosting care for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury and working to pay disability checks on time.

QTC, whose board chairman is former VA Secretary Anthony Principi, provides government-outsourced occupational health, injury and disability examination services. If confirmed by the Senate, Peake would lead the government's second-largest agency with 235,000 employees in the waning months of the Bush administration.

In the questionnaire from the Senate committee, Peake pledged to improve accountability at the VA and to make care of veterans with PTSD "a very high priority" by hiring more mental health workers and boosting access to care for veterans in harder-to-reach rural areas. Stressing his former Pentagon experience, Peake also said he would work to improve coordination and record-keeping between the VA and Pentagon, which hold joint responsibility for providing care to millions of veterans.

"Timely is yesterday!" Peake wrote. "So my answer is that we need to move as quickly as possible with initiatives that do share digital data and records."

Referring to disclosures in February of poor care at Walter Reed, Peake called it "unacceptable" for soldiers to be housed in substandard facilities but said he was not personally aware of problems that might have begun during his tenure as Army surgeon general.

In March, the Army forced out Peake's successor as surgeon general, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who also headed Walter Reed from 2002 to 2004.

Former VA Secretary Jim Nicholson announced his resignation in July as the Bush administration struggled to defend continuing charges of poor treatment at the Pentagon-run Walter Reed as well as VA facilities.

Addressing the VA's severe backlog of disability claims, Peake said he wanted to see the VA provide claims decisions in 125 days, rather than the roughly 180 days it now takes. Still, Peake acknowledged that there may not be easy answers and pledged to work with Congress to find answers.

Also in the questionnaire, Peake said:

_Protecting veterans' personal information will be a high priority after last year's theft of 26.5 million veterans' personal data.

_He would work to improve education benefits.

_He had an "open mind" as to calls by many veterans groups to set a guaranteed level of funding for the VA each year to avoid future shortfalls in health care.

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Larry Scott --

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