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Along the winding drive through the 300-acre compound of Long Island’s only veterans’ medical center, banners line the road stating the presumed values of the institution: integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence. But in recent months, a series of troubling failings and allegations of wrongdoing have called into question the care being provided to thousands of the nation’s military personnel by the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in Northport, N.Y., with charges of abuse that include widespread billing fraud and the failure to report the death of a patient for months after his body was found in a building on the complex. (Rebelo and Santora, 9/19)

A top Veterans Affairs official said Monday that an initiative to remove bureaucratic entanglements in the veterans health care system will speed access to care for veterans in the Rio Grande Valley, and could act as a model for the rest of the country. The conclusion of a 90-day initiative to streamline community care programs for veterans has already decreased the denial rate for claims from 50 percent to 10 percent, and officials say they expect other improvements in the months ahead. (Nelson, 9/19)