Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
VA Secretary: Agency Providing Better Care Than Ever
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Thursday disputed claims by members of Congress that his scandal-plagued agency hasn鈥檛 dismissed enough employees, saying, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 fire your way to excellence.鈥 McDonald told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that he and other top leaders are turning the VA around, 鈥減roviding more and better care than ever before鈥 and holding employees accountable, including firing about 2,600 workers since he took office 18 months ago. (Daly, 1/21)
A Senate investigation of deadly infections spread by contaminated scopes found that not one of the 16 or more American hospitals where patients were sickened appeared to have properly filed the required federal report. A Senate report titled "Preventable Tragedies" said the hospitals' failure to properly report the outbreaks left the Food and Drug Administration "with an inaccurate picture of the frequency and severity" of the outbreaks. (Petersen, 1/22)
