The Nation : Major Changes in VA Programs Ordered

Unhappy over the massive number of bad home loans that his department has guaranteed, and troubled by how the nation’s 172 veterans hospitals are being run, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Edward J. Derwinski has ordered major changes in the department’s benefits and medical programs, the Washington Post reported. Derwinski said in an interview with the Post that he has decided to replace Raymond J. (John) Vogel as the department’s chief benefits director, the overseer of the troubled veterans home loan program, and to abolish 27 district medical offices in the hospital system. He called the medical offices, which typically run five hospitals, “a totally unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.” In both instances, the secretary said his actions are not motivated by any particular incident but by his desire to bring change and new leadership to the department’s two largest operating branches.