The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a new pilot program on Tuesday that would allow veterans in Phoenix to receive outside care at CVS MinuteClinics. The program is a new effort designed to alleviate the exorbitant wait times veterans face when seeking care at VA facilities. For now, the program is limited to the Phoenix area, where VA facilities treat about 120,000 veterans.

“Our number one priority is getting veterans’ access to care when and where they need it,” Baligh Yehia, the VA’s deputy undersecretary for health for community care, told the Associated Press. “The launch of this partnership will enable VA to provide more care for veterans in their neighborhoods.”

The current Veterans Choice Program (VCP) restricts veterans from seeking outside care unless they have to wait more than 30 days for an appointment. If the nearest VA clinic is over 40 miles away, then a veteran is allowed to seek outside care as well. The new Phoenix-area program allows VA staff to recommend a veteran to go to a MinuteClinic when “clinically appropriate.” VA Secretary David Shulkin has indicated he would like to scrap the current VCP restrictions.

Congress recently passed legislation that would funnel $10 billion into the VCP program. “Congress has once again demonstrated that the country stands firmly united when it comes to supporting our nation’s Veterans,” Shulkin said at the time. President Donald Trump, who promised throughout his campaign to reform the VA, is expected to sign the legislation on Wednesday.

In 2014, then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned after it was revealed that officials in Phoenix falsified reports about the wait times veterans faced at VA clinics. The fake reports covered up the fact that in some instances, veterans died while waiting for care. In a recent survey conducted by the VA, only 61 percent of veterans said they could get a medical appointment for primary care when they needed one.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he was also a POW, supports the new program. “Veterans in need of routine health care services should not have to wait in line for weeks to get an appointment when they can visit community health centers like MinuteClinic to receive timely and convenient care,” he said.

And Tobias Barker, the chief medical officer of CVS MinuteClinic, told the AP he hopes the new program can be one of several solutions to providing medical care to America’s veterans. “We believe in the MinuteClinic model of care and are excited to offer our health care services as one potential solution for the Phoenix VA Health Care System and its patients,” he said.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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If you are currently living in or visiting Phoenix, Arizona, stay vigilant: there may be a serial killer on the loose. Local authorities announced this week that they believe that seven recent killings in the city are all connected–the work of a man who many are calling “the serial street shooter.”

The series of shootings in the Phoenix area began in mid-March when a 16-year-old boy who was shot, but not killed, while walking on the street late at night. The very next night, March 18, a 21-year-old man was also shot and wounded. The crimes escalated into killings from there, with two people shot and killed in April, then two in early June. The final three killings happened on June 12 in front of the victims’ home. The victims were all pictured in an NBC tweet this morning.

After 7 murders, apparent nighttime serial killer has Phoenix on edge. https://t.co/9rDvi8lkHX pic.twitter.com/I4hRWfM5uC

— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) July 14, 2016

The shootings have taken place in the Maryvale area of Phoenix, known for being a low-income neighborhood. A map was released depicting the locations of the eight shootings.

Though there is a locational connection, the police have not released any other links between victims or the shooter.

Police have only recently deemed these slayings part of a larger plan. Up until this week, there was no publicized connection between the eight shootings. This week, the police labeled the shooter a serial killer, killing these people for no apparent reason. Now, a sketch artist’s depiction of the man based off of eye witness testimony has been released to the public.

Possible serial killer behind 7 murders in Phoenix, police say. @Miguelnbc reports now #NBCNightlyNews pic.twitter.com/U07iNLOizD

— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) July 13, 2016

Additional information about the suspect indicates that he is most likely a light skinned Latino or white male in his 20s.

This shocking update to the recent shootings has people all over Phoenix on edge. Members of the community are scared to go out at night. The families of the victims are afraid to reveal their identities. One of the victims’ sister was quoted in an interview with a  Phoenix news station, saying:

It’s unbelievable that there is this monster that has done so much harm, that nobody is coming forward. All of these people were so good. Good people with good families. And now they are gone in the blink of an eye because of a monster.

Not just asking for the public to report any suspicious vehicle or persons. But [it] want[s] them to report any unfamiliar vehicle or person that comes into their neighborhood.

Alexandra Simone

Alex Simone is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street and a student at The George Washington University, studying Political Science. She is passionate about law and government, but also enjoys the finer things in life like watching crime dramas and enjoying a nice DC brunch. Contact Alex at ASimone@LawStreetmedia.com

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There are serious, systemic problems in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Top officials have been subpoenaed after a series of whistleblowers alleged neglect and a coverup of inadequate medical services by VA doctors.

The story started in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Samuel Foote, a now-retired doctor at the VA hospital in Phoenix, was the first to claim that in order to deal with complaints about long wait times and make it look like they did not have as much backup as they actually did, hospital officials kept a secret, unofficial list of veterans waiting for appointments. The list was never reported, and if a patient on the list died, they were just permanently erased. The allegations state that these lists have since been destroyed. Since Dr. Foote came out with this claim, several other hospital employees have told similar stories.

Individuals have also come forward with their frustrating experiences with the VA hospital in Phoenix. One woman claims that her father-in-law, Thomas Breen, went in for emergency care related to cancer, but the staff told him he needed to make an appointment with a VA doctor. He never got that appointment because he was placed on a wait list and died in the meantime.

Breen isn’t the only patient who may have died because of this secret list system — up to 40 veterans’ deaths may be a result of negligence and mismanagement at the VA hospital.

These allegations have made a wave in the VA community and among officials in Washington. Originally, the VA claimed that the so-called unofficial list was just a set of transitory reminder notes for the doctors between themselves, nothing legitimate or official. The VA claims that those notes were just used while the hospital was switching computer systems, and then were destroyed. So far, many top officials have been subpoenaed by the House Veterans Affairs Committee, including the head of the VA, Eric Shinseki. He has been ordered to turn over any information, including emails and documents, that could relate to what happened in Phoenix. The subpoena specifically seeks information about the “unofficial list.” Shineski has until 9:00am Monday, May 19 to comply with the order.

Shinseki is receiving a mountain of pressure after the whole incident. Some special-interest veterans groups want him to resign while others are standing behind the chief. The largest veterans group in the U.S., the American Legion, has come out in favor of Shinseki’s resignation. American Legion Commander Daniel Dellinger stated, “It’s a story of poor oversight and failed leadership. This is the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do.” Other major veterans groups haven’t called for Shinseki’s resignation, but have condemned the actions of the VA hospital in Phoenix. 

On the other hand, the Obama Administration and Speaker Boehner have stood behind Shinseki and the VA.

There is the chance that this was a select incident that occurred at the Phoenix VA hospital. But somehow, I doubt that. This isn’t the first issue the VA has had in its hospitals in recent years — they’ve already acknowledged that approximately 23 patients have died because of delayed care in the past couple of years. There have also been allegations that workers in the Fort Collins, Colo. hospital were taught how to falsify records, and there have been problems in multiple other cities.

There’s clearly an issue here that warrants attention. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have added a new pool of veterans into our communities, and those who fought in Vietnam and Korea are getting older and developing more health problems. Costs are just getting worse for the VA — in 2012 it spent $57 billion on disability benefits alone, after spending just $15 billion in 2000. The Department of Veterans Affairs is clearly struggling to keep up with demand, and this may be one of the heartbreaking side effects.

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Anneliese Mahoney (@AMahoney8672) is Lead Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [DVIDSHUB via Flickr]

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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