'Make the VA fail': DOGE puts PTSD research and veterans’ cancer care on the chopping block
The Department of Government Efficiency cancelled and then reinstated almost 300 contracts at the Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this week. But there are more contracts that are on the chopping block, including ones that are “central to patient safety,” NBC News reported Thursday.
“What had been a list of 875 VA contracts scheduled for termination a little over a week ago has now become 585 canceled contracts, the VA said Monday," Gretchen Morgenson and Laura Strickler report. "The about-face is a rare public retreat by the so-called efficiency operation known as DOGE, which has come under fire for moving to ax crucial government services and overstating the value of some of its savings to taxpayers.”
On Wednesday, the VA announced that they would be laying off 80,000 workers, after dismissing 2,400 last month.
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The VA said the remaining cuts “will not negatively affect Veteran care, benefits or services” and “were identified through a deliberative, multi-level review.”
But these moves could lead to the privatization of healthcare for veterans. “They’re trying to push veterans into community care,” one VA official said, meaning services provided outside of the VA. “And to do that, they’re doing everything they can to make the VA mission fail.”
“The revised list of killed contracts,” Morgenson and Strickler write, “includes those covering sterility certification for VA hospital pharmacy operations, facility air quality and safety testing to prevent transmission of infections, and sterile processing services to decontaminate equipment and medical instruments. Also on the list: contracts providing required certification and accreditation for stroke centers and follow-up care for cancer patients.”
Another cancelled contract pertains to monitoring the safety of radiation equipment used for cancer treatment. “The documents reviewed by NBC News show the termination of multiple contracts for radiation safety officers,” Morgenson and Strickler write.
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If this equipment is in violation, hospitals would likely have to shut down, according to a VA official. “You cannot have a hospital that does not have a radiology department,” the official told NBC News.
“Another contract that remains scheduled for cancellation,” Morgenson and Strickler write, “supports the National Center for PTSD, a VA entity that is the world’s leading research and educational center on post-traumatic stress disorder.” This has apparently been deemed "non-mission critical."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, (D-Conn.) who is the ranking member on the Veteran Affairs Committee, said Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins was being “reckless” to cancel contracts.
“Make no mistake, cancelling these contracts will cause harm to veterans and VA care and benefits,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “And it is completely unacceptable there has been no transparency, accountability, or consultation surrounding these contracts. By intentionally concealing from Congress the full list of contracts cancelled, Collins makes clear his intentions to use these terminated services as numbers for his press release, with zero regard for veterans.”
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