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The Justice Department is siding with a legal argument by a fired Department of Veterans Affairs official at the center of a nationwide scandal over long wait times for veterans seeking medical care and secret lists covering up the delays. Sharon Helman, the former director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System, is suing the VA to win back her old job. Helman argues in court papers that a key portion of a 2014 law passed in response to the wait-time scandal is unconstitutional and denies her an important step to appeal her firing. (6/2)

Lawmakers are fuming over what they describe as a "shameful" decision by the Justice Department that could help the former head of the scandal-scarred Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital get her job back. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in a letter sent Tuesday, notified House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., that the DOJ would not defend a key provision of the Veteran Affairs reform law, passed in the wake of the scandal over officials covering up long patient wait-times. (6/2)

A proposal to expand nurses' scope of practice at Veterans Affairs facilities will likely draw even more medical professionals to a sector that is already the largest employer of nurses in the country. The rule-making, released last week and meant to address long wait times for veterans seeking healthcare, comes at a time when hospitals and medical groups, including the VA, around the country struggle with a nursing shortage. That's led some to question whether there are enough nurses to actually make a difference. (Dickson, 6/2)