Concerns continue about state VA care

CHRIS JORGENSEN

Long-beleaguered former head of the Montana VA Health Care System Dr. Judy Hayman has announced her retirement as of Dec. 2.

In July, she was removed from her position as executive director following mounting pressure from Montana's congressional delegation.

Hayman had been director since June 2019, a tenure plagued by crisis-level staffing shortages, a high rate of leadership turnover and a fourth investigation by the VA Office of Inspector General into allegations of patient abuse at the Miles City VA care home.

The pressure to remove Hayman peaked with her hiring a felony sex offender once featured on the TV show "To Catch a Predator."

Montana VA serves over 47,000 enrolled Veterans across Montana and has a staff of 1,400 at 18 care sites.

At the time of Hayman's ouster, Katherine Foley, Fort Harrison representative for the American Federation of Government Employees, identified 350 job vacancies in the state system.

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After her removal, Hayman worked at the VA's Integrated Service Network-19. Duane Gill was named interim executive director of the Montana VA system.

Hayman's removal was encouraged by Montana's congressional delegation. On Wednesday, those members had more harsh wordsfor the VA.

"Montana VA requires a serious adjustment to deliver on the promises made to veterans," said Rep. Ryan Zinke.

"There has been no stable and effective leadership there for at least a decade," he added. "Veterans are committing suicide in the parking lot and sexual predators roam the halls as employees. I will be in touch with the secretary about finding a high-caliber executive to fill the seat on a permanent basis to bring stability and leadership to the position."

Rep. Matt Rosendale said the VA has improved in the past few months under the direction of Gill and Wade Vlosich, who he described as a fixer sent in to restore hiring practices and delivery of medical services.

"We started having complaints of hiring processes and malpractice claims at Fort Harrison and I immediately reached out to Secretary (Denis) McDonough, this was back in February," Rosendale said, referring to the OIG's most recent investigation into the Montana VA.

"That report reflected there were major health and safety concerns taking place at Fort Harrison, and within the VA facilities across the state," he said. "And at that time, they pulled director Haman from her position."

Rachel Dumke with Sen. Steve Daines' office said the VA is failing Montana's veterans.

"Rather than shuffling unaccountable bureaucrats from one failing facility to another, the department should get serious about reducing wait times at its facilities and clearing its hundreds of thousands of backlogged claims," she said.

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