Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Jackie Kucinich and Jeff Simon August 20 at 6:30 AM

GLOUCESTER, Va. – Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) had just finished greeting the members of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter #58 and removed his suit jacket when the emotional stories about misplaced paperwork, frustrating interactions and endless bureaucracy at the Department of Veteran's Affairs began.

Read the entire story at the link below from the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/08/20/vets-vent-to-warner-at-campaign-stop/

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Secretary Harvey and Secretary Hazel Visit VA Medical Centers, Discuss Commonwealth’s Role in Ensuring Access to Critical Services to Virginia Veterans

Injuries incurred by service members are covered by the Veteran Administration. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

RICHMOND – Governor Terry McAuliffe has tasked Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs John Harve

y and Secretary of Health and Human Resources Bill Hazel to with Veterans Administration hospitals across Virginia to ensure Virginia veterans and their families have access to the critical services they need to enhance their health and well being.

“As home to thousands of veterans, active duty service members and their families, Virginia has the responsibility to ensure that members of the armed service have access to the healthcare, mental health services, and resources they and their families need to succeed,” said Governor McAuliffe. “That is why I have asked Secretary Harvey and Secretary Hazel to work with the VA medical centers in Virginia to explore ways the state can give support to their operations and make sure Virginia is providing top notch services to our veterans.”

Secretary Harvey and Secretary Hazel began their tour of VA hospitals on Tuesday, July 8, with a visit to McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond and visited Hampton VA Medical Center on Wednesday, July 9th. Next week, they will also visit Salem VA Medical Center to meet with the hospital director and identify opportunities for the state to lend assistance on any issues related to Virginia veterans seeking care and medical services.  

Governor McAuliffe has also made it a top priority of his administration to provide pathways for gainful employment to Virginia veterans and their families. As part of this effort, he has vowed to end veterans’ homelessness by the end of 2015, and just last month announced that veterans homelessness decreased by 14 percent between 2013 and 2014. Additionally, under the Governor’s leadership, Virginia has expanded the Virginia Values Veterans initiative, which encourages employers to recruit, hire, train, and retrain our veterans, and recently announced that the state was awarded a federal grant of over $3.4 million allocated to veterans’ job training. The Governor will continue to make veterans health and success a priority throughout his term, and this effort is another step towards promoting their welfare.

Update on VA Scheduling Problems From Senator Mark Warner

Injuries incurred by service members are covered by the Veteran Administration. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I wanted to give you a quick update on our efforts to fix the scheduling problems recently disclosed at Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities across the country, including medical centers in Hampton and Richmond. 

The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation to begin addressing demand for care. It ensures that vets who have to travel more than 40 miles to get to a VA hospital can access private health providers closer to home, and it gives the VA secretary more authority to fire senior managers for poor job performance. 

I’m also proud to report that this bipartisan Senate legislation includes my proposal to put together a team of private sector data and I-T experts to go in, at no cost to tax payers, to assess the scope of the VA’s scheduling problems and recommend technology and management steps to fix it. I’m also pushing the White House to support this commonsense, private sector approach, and those discussions are proceeding as well. 

Click here to watch a short video update from Senator Warner on the VA’s scheduling problems.

We already have a model for how this could work. Back in 2010, when we learned about the back office mess and data management challenges at the Army’s Arlington National Cemetery, I worked with the Army to allow a team of experts from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Northern Virginia Technology Council to recommend specific fixes for the Cemetery’s management issues. Thanks in part to the great pro bono work by members of NVTC, we upgraded Arlington Cemetery from an analog to a digital operation. In fact, you now can use a smartphone app to locate the grave of a loved one at Arlington. 

Every veteran who contacts the VA should be able to schedule an appointment in an efficient and timely way. I believe this private sector assistance makes sense, and this is something that can be completed quickly. 

I will keep you updated as we continue to push for effective solutions to address the deeper challenges at the VA. And if our office can ever be of help to you, please contact us. I encourage you to also sign-up for future newsletters like this one that discuss the specific issues of concern to you and your community. I promise never to share your email address, and I won’t clog your inbox with unwanted messages. 

Regards, 

Mark R. Warner

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How are hackers getting your info

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CNN's Drew Griffin gets a better understanding of how credit thieves are getting your credit information.

News you need to know now.  If you think that this is the only ring in the world, you are seriously mistaken.  This was just one of the big ones.  There are plenty more and it's growing.

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