Veterans Affairs management is evolving - but for the better?

If there’s been a worse example of a management crisis over the past few years, it’s tough to think of one that got worse press than the mess at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The agency helps at least nine million veterans at more than 1,700 locations … but the time it took to get services created a host of issues for both administrators and the veterans they sought to serve. Investigations were conducted and most concluded the major issue could be blamed on inept or sloppy middle management. There was a serious leadership problem at the VA, and there didn’t seem to be anyone willing to take responsibility for the mess and get it cleaned up and working properly.



Early “solutions” simply exacerbated the problem. Quotas and deadlines were implemented intending to reduce the time between an appointment being made and a veteran actually receiving services. However, these new metrics were put in place regardless of any understanding of the struggles the administration faced. They had less resources and fewer people to administer and deliver them, yet they were expected to deliver more and better services to an increasing number of people. Doctors were game, but they were burning out, and coffers were emptying sooner than ever as costs went up along with demand. Worst of all, there was no effective oversight, so, as people will do when put in impossible situations under untenable demands, some folks tried to cheat the system. This created an even more dire crisis. Quality and availability of care drastically diminished.

Some administrators began cooking the logs, making it appear as if they were meeting their time objectives when, in reality, things were getting worse. Others just kept canceling and re-booking appointments to give the appearance of shorter wait times. That’s when the unthinkable happened. Veterans began dying while waiting for services. When that news made the headlines, the general public was incensed. How could the VA allow our American heroes to suffer and, in some cases, die?

Investigations were conducted by both news agencies and political entities. The results of those investigations painted an ugly picture. A combination of unreasonable demands with a general refusal by some managers and administrators to take real responsibility for their people and their departments took an untenable situation and turned it into a deadly string of administrative miscues.
Recent efforts to fix the myriad causes and symptoms of these problems have yet to yield too much progress, and it will take some truly inspired management to right this ship.

Elie Hirschfeld is a seasoned real estate developer in NYC.