Running Head: Group Project-Group 2
1
Group Project -Group 2
Roger Hopkins
Monica Lewis
Mark Peterson
Brittney Wray
Jessica Yarington
Liberty University
BMAL 504 – Leading Organizational Change
Dr. Mark Ellis
3/8/2015
Running Head: Group Project-Group 2
2
Name and Description:
“The Veterans’ Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system
in USA, and provides public-sector care for honorably discharged veterans of the US Armed
forces.” (Oliver, 2008, p. 1211) The organization boasted more than 1,700 health care treatment
facilities as of October, 2014 and provided service to more than 8.76 million veterans in need of
quality health care [Vet14]. According to statistics from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs
web page; the costs of providing health care to the growing veteran population exceeded $59
million in 2013. (2014)
Public Image Problems
In the past few years the VHA has come under fire for extreme problems ranging from
uncontrolled infections in the hospitals, to veterans awaiting appointments ending up dying from
the Diseases and injuries, that that they were waiting to be seen for. Department of Veterans
Affairs officials receiving large performance bonuses for subpar performance, and the
transactions including enrollment and review for newly discharged veterans can sometimes take
up to 7 years to process. There is a breakdown of communication between the Department of
Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs when it comes to managing Veterans and their
healthcare, at their transition period between the two. After transition the service member is
supposed to receive a Veterans Administration disability rating. VA makes a determination about
the severity of your disability based on the evidence you submit as part of your claim, or that VA
obtains from your military records. VA rates disability from 0% to 100% in 10% increments (e.g.
10%, 20%, 30% etc.). (Veterans’ Health Administration, 2014). This process is started at the 30
day mark prior to retirement for retiree’s, but can be started after the retirement from the military
Running Head: Group Project-Group 2
3
process has been completed. Veterans should be go to the E- Benefits website and being the
initial filing for VA disability. This would be one of the problems that should be addressed.
Currently, there is a vast backlog for veteran’s claims, ranging from 1 month delay in processing
time to several years. One case specifically took 7 years to adjudicate from initial filing to 100%
disability for a man with epilepsy from a head injury resulting from a fall off an aircraft in
Virginia. The other part of the veterans not getting the care is the distance to the VHA centers,
there are 1700 in the United States, but there are veterans who do not live near a VHA. Center
for care. Despite best efforts, the growing veteran population requiring health care is far
outpacing the resources available to provide quality care to the men and women that have
honorably served our great nation. In 2014, Congress passed The Veterans Access, Choice and
Accountability Act of 2014, which became Public Law 113-146 in August of 2014. The
purpose was to alleviate some of the medical waiting periods, and increase accessibility for
Veterans outside the VHA channels. (H.Res. 3230, 2014) The Choice Card program as it was
called has resulted in better availability of care, but the calculations of distance are skewed.
One veteran, AT2 Michael Seibel, USN (RET) who lives just across the St. John River from
Patuxent, Maryland, is technically within the 40 miles to the VHA center there, but there is
not a direct route, resulting in not being eligible for the Choice card program, and being
force to drive three and half hours around the point to the base where it is located. This
drive is in excess of 120 miles each way. (Personal communication, March 1, 2015)
“Leadership alone, cannot bring about large-scale change. To succeed, a change effort must
have broad based support throughout the organization.” (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p 216) The
employees’ of the VHA do not go to work every day to fail, they go to provide the Veterans of
Running Head: Group Project-Group 2
4
the United States with the care that they need and deserve, however due to logistical, access and
sheer numbers considerations, it was necessary to make changes in the VHA system.
Description of change process :
In order to meet the growing needs for medical care the Veterans’ Health Administration
has reviewed the supply chain and has taken steps to implement a more effective supply chain
management process. Organizational Change is the process of adjusting the organization to
changes in the operating environment. (Michael, 1982, p. 68) The implementation of the new
process will not be without growing pains and careful coordination for new suppliers will need to
be made. The H. Res. 3230, has allowed the implementation of the use of private doctors for
Veterans living outside a service area or in rural areas. (West, et al, 2010) While this will allow
for more Veterans to receive the care they need, it also will cause a logistical problem, for health
records management, medication obtainment, and hospitalization if necessary.
The current approach to supply chain management for the organization is for any eligible
veteran to be able to receive seamless health care at any of the more than 1700 treatment
facilities that are operated by the VHA. (Veterans’ Health Administration, 2014) This allows a
veteran to transfer to a different location in the event the veteran relocates. The transition is
seamless because the VHA has implemented an electronic system for managing patient records.
This model of records management is the new standard for patient record keeping and is
currently being studied for implementation by private medical services providers.
Running Head: Group Project-Group 2
5
Changes in the current system will be necessary, to a degree, because private providers
have not fully implemented the electronic records system. The use of Computerized Patient
Record System (CPRS) in private practices for out of network doctors and facilities will have to
face security requirements and safely implement access via government networks. (Kizer
&Dudley, 2009, p. 332) The VHA is changing supply chain management by outsourcing health
care to private providers while upgrading current facilities and expanding infrastructure. The
outsourcing portion of the project has already begun. The difficulty will be in maintaining the
seamless transition to other facilities for veterans; if they should relocate. The process of
transferring patient records from outsourced facilities will have to be effectively addressed to
maintain the current electronic records transition process. Currently, the need to provide more
timely health care to veterans in need far outweighs the records management difficulty.
Definition of Project:
Diagnosis of current situation:
Running Head: Group Project-Group 2
6
Recommendations:
Implementation Plan:
Summary:
Running Head: Group Project-Group 2
7
References
H. Res. 3230, 113th Cong., 113 Cong. Rec. H6953 (2014) (enacted).
Jick, T., & Peiperl, M. (2011). Managing change: Cases and concepts (3rd ed.). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Kizer, K., & Dudley, R. (2009). Extreme Makeover: Transformation of the Veterans Health Care
System. Annual Review of Public Health, 313-339.
doi:10.1146/annurev.publhealth.29.020907.090940
Michael, S. (1982). Organizational Change Techniques: Their Present, Their Future.
Organizational Dynamics, 67-80.
Oliver, A. (2008). Public-sector health-care reforms that work? A case study of the US veterans’
health administration. The Lancet, 371(9619), 1211-3. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/199013367?accountid=12085
Veterans Health Administration. (2014). Retrieved February 15, 2015, from
http://www.va.gov/health/aboutVHA.asp
Running Head: Group Project-Group 2
8
West, A. N., Lee, R. E., Shambaugh-Miller, M., Bair, B. D., Mueller, K. J., Lilly, R. S.,
Hawthorne, K. (2010). Defining 'rural' for veterans' health care planning. Journal of
Rural Health, 26(4), 301-309. doi:10.1111/j.1748-0361.2010.00298.x
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
