Dive Brief:
- Allison Hickey, who was Under Secretary for Benefits at the VA, announced her resignation last Friday after promotional and reimbursement irregularities involving two-dozen senior executives in her department were discovered via an internal investigation, says The Wall Street Journal.
- The VA has been under scrutiny for some time with its scandal of extensive wait times for care along with huge backlogs of disability claims. Many veterans groups called for her resignation along with then-Secretary Eric Shinseki, who resigned last year.
- However, during her tenure, Hickey reduced the backlog of pending claims from 610,000 in March 2013 to 75,000 cases this past week.
Dive Insight:
As previously reported in Healthcare Dive, the VA's health system has been under scrutiny as revealed by reports finding widespread inadequacies. The Veteran Choice Act, an emergency funding measure, was passed last year to fund a review of the system, which cost the public $16 billion.
The American Legion applauded Hickey's resignation and said in a statement, "Now that the three senior officials that were in place at the VA have left office, the American Legion is optimistic that Secretary [Robert] McDonald can finally make the cultural changes that he needs," according to The New York Times.