WASHINGTON (Michigan News Source) – Following a plea last month from Michigan’s U.S. Senators to establish a permanent director at Detroit’s John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Senator Gary Peters questioned Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough on Wednesday about whether reforms have lead to improvement at the facility.

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McDonough responded that improvements recommended by the VA’s Office of the Medical Inspector (OMI) have been made at the 106-bed facility, but that he is waiting on the outcome of a review by the department’s independent inspector general, Michael J. Missal, to assess how effectively those changes have been implemented.

Last month, both Peters and Stabenow asked the secretary to install a permanent director at the Detroit VA “as soon as permissible,” saying leadership and managerial failures following the “crisis of care” at the 106-bed facility led to a culture of “distrust” and low patient and employee morale.

The Detroit VA is on its third interim medical director, Chris Cauley, since the hospital’s longtime director, Dr. Pamela Reeves, was reassigned July 1 amid the ongoing internal VA investigations into misconduct. Other top hospital executives were also replaced.

Problems have beleaguered the facility for some time. Last fall, Peters and Stabenow wrote to Missal seeking a review of the alleged misconduct at the Detroit VA as well as the Veterans’ Affairs Department’s response to it. U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell of Ann Arbor and Rashida Tlaib of Detroit made a similar request of Missal.

McDonough said he spoke to Missal this week and said both are maintaining a  “very active dialogue” about the VA hospital.

In addition, Peters asked McDonough about the need for “robust” funding for the VA State Veterans Home Construction Grant Program that lets states upgrade existing facilities and begin construction on new sites. In those cases, the federal government assumes 65% of the cost. Peters said there’s a backlog of more than $600 million worth of unfulfilled grant requests by the states.

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In Michigan, the grant program has allowed for replacing the Michigan Veterans Home in Grand Rapids and the building of a new veterans home in Macomb County. The state Legislature recently appropriated funding for the “overdue” replacement of a veterans home in Marquette but breaking ground on that facility is contingent on receiving a federal grant through the VA, Peters said.