A top Department of Veterans Affairs official involved in the falsification of patient wait times was fired Friday, the first to be ousted under a new law meant to speed the removal of agency executives for misconduct or poor performance.
James Talton, former director of the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System, was officially removed for neglect of duty, according to a press release from the agency.
Talton is no longer being paid. He has one week to appeal the termination to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which will then have 21 days to uphold or reverse the decision.
Talton is the first to be fired under a law signed in August giving the VA secretary greater discretion to fire or discipline members of the Senior Executive Service, the top tier of agency management. The law was passed in the wake of a national scandal over falsified waiting lists used to hide long delays in care.
“This removal action underscores VA’s commitment to hold leaders accountable and get Veterans the care they need,” a VA press release stated.
Reports of bogus patient appointment lists erupted in April when the allegations from whistleblowers were revealed at a House Veterans Affairs Committee meeting. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the committee chairman, ordered the VA inspector general to investigate the charges. In May, the IG issued an interim report calling the practice nationwide, “systemic” and deliberate. The final report, which further substantiated the scams, was issued in August.
Since then, VA officials have announced plans to fire four top executives under the new law. Two of them subsequently retired.
The fourth, Terry Gerigk Wolf, has been given more time to contest her termination and continues to draw her $179,700 salary.
Miller said he is not impressed with the timing of Talton’s firing.
“It’s unfortunate that VA’s action comes only after Talton was on paid leave for more than two months — an expense that can only be described as a waste of taxpayer dollars,” Miller said. “Regardless of this decision, it’s clear the department needs to move much more quickly to purge other disgraced personnel from its payroll.”
Miller singled out Sharon Helman, the former head of the Phoenix VA hospital that triggered the nationwide investigation, noting she has been on paid administrative leave for almost six months and remains on the payroll.
Miller called Helman “the face of the VA scandal.”
The Alabama health network has been plagued with reports of falsified records and poor patient care. The Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistleblower retaliation claims, singled out the network based in Montgomery, Ala., as “part of a troubling pattern of deficient patient care at VA facilities nationwide” in a June 2014 letter to President Obama.
The OSC confirmed a pulmonologist copied prior medical notes to represent current readings for 1,200 patients. The Montgomery Advertiser also reported the facility had “lost” more than 2,000 patient X-rays and other images since 2009.
