VA PR Czar Got Last Minute Job Boost

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

As one of his last official acts in late 2013, the embattled outgoing Pittsburgh area director of the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a one-page order creating a new job and title for his public affairs chief.
The Oct. 17, 2013 memo from Michael E. Moreland created the full time job of communications director for VISN 4 and named David E. Cowgill to fill that post effective Oct. 20. Cowgill's current annual salary is $124,003.
Though VA officials said Cowgill's salary in his new job is the same pay grade as his old one, federal records show that he earned $118,273 in 2012, $5,730 lower than his current level. Cowgill issued a statement in which he said he had previously served as VISN 4 communications manager on a part-time basis.
In addition recently released records show Cowgill was one of dozens of Pittsburgh area VA employees to be awarded a performance bonus in 2014. Cowgill got $2,750 in bonus payments, records show.
"Leadership made a determination that a full time VISN 4 communications manager was needed and I no longer had the time to perform the dual role of serving as VA Pittsburgh public relations manager," Cowgill wrote in an email response to questions.
He said his pay grade remained the same in the new job "and I did not receive any pay increase or extra compensation for being appointed to the full time communications manager."
Moreland's action creating the full time post came just two weeks after he announced he was stepping down as VISN 4 director and retiring as of Nov. 1. His resignation came amid a congressional investigation into the deaths of six veterans at VISN 4 facilities in a Legionella outbreak.
"I have determined that the duties of a Public Affairs Officer are needed on the full-time basis within the network office," Moreland wrote.
"Although this new position has been established, I expect VAPHS will maintain sufficient staffing to continue to support the Network's public affairs efforts," the Moreland memo continues.
Moreland did not respond to requests for comment.
Though VA officials say Cowgill has no staff, internal memos show he has commandeered the services of many of VA public affairs staffers with a combined annual salary of more than $1 million. That figure include's Cowgill's replacement with a current salary of $110,607.
Cowgill has, through a series of internal directives asserted control of staffers who reported to him in his prior position.
In a March 24, 2014 to the VA's Pittsburgh Health Services public relations manager, Cowgill wrote that the Pittsburgh office "will be required to provide appropriate levels of staffing" to complete a series of functions for his office including the production of VISN's annual report, maintaining the VISN's websites and "VISN 4's public relations and outreach campaigns."
In an April 8 memo to VA's regional mangers, Cowgill requested " Nulph serve as his liaison.
"Ms. Nulph must be provided with the ability to work directly with the VISN 4 Communications Manager and have her Pittsburgh tasks adjusted as required by network priorities," Cowgill's memo states.
Nulph, whose job title is public affairs specialist, has an annual salary of $65,665.
In response to questions, VA spokesman Henry Huntley wrote that Cowgill  "utilizes the services of some VA Pittsburgh Healthcare Systems public affairs department to include occasional web design, photography, videography, video conferencing support and assistance from one public affairs specialist."
Cowgill, in his email, wrote that VA Pittsburgh had been providing support to VISN 4 since 2007.
Data provided by the VA shows that there are 16 persons assigned public affairs duties in the VA Pittsburgh Health Services office. Salaries range from $64,138 to the $110,607 being paid to Cowgill's replacement.
Michael Stelacio, department commander of the Pennsylvania American Legion, said both Moreland and Cowgill should be investigated.
"Mr. Cowgill should have to give an explanation of how he can order everyone around when he has no staff, Stelacio said, adding that Moreland should have to explain why he created Cowgill's job.
Asked about the salaries of the VA's local public relations staff, Stelaccio said that while it seems excessive, the staff has to answer a lot of quesions, particularly during the Legionella outbreak.

Pittsburgh Area VA Employees Shared in 2014 Bonuses

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A communications manager and a top administrator were among 1,285 Pittsburgh area employees of the Veterans Administration to share in 2014 bonuses of $142 million.
The bonuses to Pittsburgh area VA employees, which were paid in the midst of multiple congressional inquiries into charges that veterans were facing extensive delays in getting needed care, ranged from $11,527 to a low of $145.
In Pittsburgh inquiries focused on deaths caused by a Legionella outbreak.
The nationwide listing was made public in a report from USA Today in the newspaper's Wednesday edition.
The $11,527 bonus went to Anthony Warner, a contract specialist. The $145 payment went to Terry Weightman, a computer specialist.
David E. Cowgill, communications manager for the regional VA service area was paid a $2,750 bonus. His regular salary is $124,003.
Carla Sivek, a top administrator who recently served as the acting regional director, got a $3,250 bonus.
Here is a partial listing of Pittsburgh area bonuses:

Anthony Warner, contract specialist, $11,527
Jennifer Stone-Barash. director, $7,408
Bernadette Heron, pharmacy $4,900
Lisa Longo, pharmacy $4,900
Rosemary Grelish, pharmacy, $4,900
John C. Lowe, pharmacy, $4,900
James F. Baker, finance $3,259
Barbara Forsha, health systems specialist, $3,250
Moira Hughes, health systems specialist, $3,250
Carla Sivek, administrator,$3,250
Joyce Johnson, engineering, $2,820
Charlotte Balou, budget analyst, $2,750
Barbara Becker, program managment, $2,750
Kimberly Butler, health system analyst, $2,750
Teneal Caw, human resources, $2,750
David Cowgill, public affairs, $2,750
William J. Cress, social worker, $2,750
Michelle Dominski, human resources, $2,750
Jennifer Farrar, auditor, $2,750
Douglas Hilliard, prosthetics, $2,750
Debra Hughes, health systems specialist, $2,750
Angela Keen, psychologist,$2,750
Anne Mikolajczak, health systems specialist $2,750

VA Vows to Keep New Inventory Supply System

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Officials of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs say they have no plans to abandon a controversial new inventory control system at its health facilities despite complaints from its own employees.
VA spokesman Henry L. Huntley said in an email response to questions that implementation of the Shipcom Wireless system is not being halted. 
"The Point-of-Use program office is not considering abandoning the VHA Point-of-Use inventory site in any live site or discontinuing the program," Huntley wrote, adding that it is now in use in 17 locations, including Pittsburgh.
The announcement marks a reversal for Pittsburgh area VA employees who had earlier been told that the controversial new system would be put on hold, at least temporarily. They were told Friday that the Shipcom system would be in use starting this week.
Huntley did acknowledge that the program called Catamaran was on an "administrative pause" at some locations.
The comments follow the disclosure of an internal e-mail from an inventory control official in Pittsburgh in which he acknowledged widespread complaints about the new system and told workers that an old inventory system would be put in place, at least temporarily.
In his email last week, inventory chief Vincent Scalamogna wrote, "Leadership has heard your concerns."
He added that plans were being developed to revert to the old system.
Huntley, however, said the email "was from him (Scalamogna) directly to his staff regarding only his facility. Local facility chief logistics officers do not have the authority to halt the national implementation."
The VA spokesman also denied that the implementation of Catamaran has led to any shortages of needed medical supplies.
"Logistics staff is able to stock consumable medical supplies in the point-of-use locations as required. No serious supply issues have been encountered as a result of the implementation or use of the system," Huntley wrote, adding that there were no indications that patient care had been jeopardized.
The Shipcom contract could bring revenues of up to $275 million to the Houston-based company.
Contact Walter F. Roche Jr at wfrochejr999@gmail.com.

Use of VA Inventory/Supply System Scrapped at Least Temporarily

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A controversial multimillion dollar inventory supply and control system at Pittsburgh area Veterans Affairs facilities is being put aside, at least temporarily, following multiple complaints including warnings that veterans health care could be jeopardized.
The suspension of the Shipcom Wireless system was disclosed to Pittsburgh area VA employees last week and it followed a series of meetings in which workers detailed continuing problems with the system put in place by the Texas based firm.
In an email to employees Thursday, Vincent Scalamogna, an inventory control chief, said plans were being developed to convert back to the old inventory system.
"Leadership has heard your concerns," the email states.
VA officials in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did officials of Shipcom.
The contract, which is being implemented at several other VA facilities across the country, drew attention in Pittsburgh when former VISN 4 Director Michael Moreland surfaced as an advisor to Shipcom.
Under the contract Shipcom could ultimately earn some $275 million in payments.
Moreland had resigned from the director's job amid growing criticism of the handling of a legionella outbreak in local facilities that resulted in six known deaths.
Subsequently VA officials barred Moreland's further involvement due to his prior role as the regional director.
Criticism of the Shipcom system and its use of a computer program began nearly as soon as implementation began.
Employees reported long delays in obtaining needed medical supplies and warned that patient care could be affected. At one point recently, no supply requests could be made because the computer system crashed.
Workers reported that they were forced to get some needed supplies from other area non- VA hospitals.
Returning to the old in-house inventory system, however, may pose additional problems. Dozens of supply bins used under the old system have been scrapped.
In his email Scalamogna told employees that meeting already had been scheduled to plan the conversion to the old system.
"After this meeting we will hold meetings with impacted Logistics team members to review, modify and finalize the conversion plan," the email states. "Once our plan is fianlized, I will present it to leadership and seek approval to begin the conversion."
He wrote that the old system would be used until Shipcom and VA officials in Washington could "sort out" the problems with the new computer system called Catamaran.
wfrochejr999@gmail.com

Pittsburgh VA Discovers Emergency Pandemic Supplies Expired

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Veterans Affairs officials in Pittsburgh have completed a review of hundreds of medical supplies stockpiled for emergencies after learning that some of them had gone well beyond their expiration dates.

The inventory of more than 200 pallets of items, stored in Building 49 at the VA’s H.J. Heinz campus in O’Hara, was completed to determine which items can still be used, said Beth Miga, spokeswoman at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

“We determined that a hands-on review of our pandemic response supplies was necessary to ensure our inventory records were as accurate as possible,” Miga wrote in an email.

The review was completed this week but Miga would not disclose its results. She said federal law did not permit her to disclose what specific supplies have expired. She would only say that items in seven of 22 categories expired and triggered the review.

Experts say it is difficult to guarantee the efficacy of medical supplies that exceed a manufacturer’s expiration date.

“A reliable stockpile of supplies for combating an infectious disease outbreak or pandemic is essential,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician at the UPMC Center for Health Security. “When certain supplies age exceeds their manufacturer’s expiration date it is difficult to guarantee their efficacy and healthcare workers should have the highest level of confidence in their equipment when treating patients with contagious infectious diseases.”

Those supplies include medications, vaccines, certain medical equipment as well as personal protective equipment for healthcare workers such as masks and respirators, he said.

“The proper handling of these substances is important for patients and public health,” said U.S. Sen. Robert Casey when told about the outdated items. “It’s incumbent upon the VA to replace these items quickly so they’re there in case of emergency and provide the public and local health officials all appropriate information.”

According to Miga, some of the items do not have manufacturer’s expiration dates, “but we are still examining these supplies to determine their status and order replacements if necessary.”<br/>She said the inventory would provide an opportunity “to study our warehouse procedures and ensure that soon-to-expire stocks are shifted for use within the VA system.”<br/>The rules referred to by Miga describe the supplies as being “reserved specifically for the treatment of casualties from a mass casualty event.”<br/>It states that the director of the VA medical facility is responsible for activating when “a local regional or national emergency warrants its use.”

The caches, according to the directive, “are specifically intended to treat veterans, staff and others that may present to the local VA medical facility.”

Michael Stelacio, department commander of the Pennsylvania American Legion, called it unfortunate that supplies expired when they could have been transferred to other VA facilities for immediate use before expiration. “It’s obvious there’s some ineptness,” Stelacio said. “This is another one of these things that has to be corrected.”

Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

VA Pittsburgh Mail Room Functions Probed

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Notices to some 14,000 area veterans of upcoming medical appointments have been delayed by two factors sparking an ongoing internal investigation of mail room practices .
Beth Miga, a spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh regional office of Veterans Affairs acknowledged Wednesday that an investigation was underway.
According to Miga some delays of up to three weeks were caused by a computer crash, while other shorter delays stemmed from the switching of contractors for mailing services.
As a result of the contract switch, she said, some 10,000 notices had to be mailed from VA facilities in Butler.
 "Due to a change in our mail metering services in June 2015, VA Pittsburgh used mail meter services at VA Butler Healthcare. This issue was not due to a lack of funding, but was an alternate way to send mail and continue to communicate with veterans about their VA care while we brought our new system online," Miga wrote in an email.
She said the mailings were "roughly one to two days" behind our usual schedule and "did not negatively impact the care we provide to veterans."
She said a new contractor, Pitney Bowes, was selected through a competitive process to replace Neopost USA which had the old expiring contract.
As for the computer crash, Miga said that while notices normally arrive several weeks before a scheduled appointment, the delayed notices arrived only a week ahead of the scheduled date.
"We did not have to cancel or reschedule any appointments due to recent mailing delays," she said in an email.
"The delay was due to an unexpected crash in the computer hardware that we use to generate these letters,"she added.
The scheduling of medical appointments and delays in treatment have been major issues in an ongoing review of VA care across the country.
Sparked by congressional inquiries and investigations by the VA's Inspector General charges have also surfaced that in some VA facilities, though not in Pittsburgh, records have been changed to hide lengthy delays in veterans getting needed services.
Former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned earlier this year in the midst of revelations about delayed health care for veterans.

No Bid VA Pittsburgh Contracts Questioned

By Walter F. Roche Jr.



Veterans Administration officials in Pittsburgh failed to properly monitor three multimillion dollar no-bid contracts with a local physicians group and paid multiple invoices for anesthesiology and cardiac surgery services that could not be accounted for.
In a 26-page report issued Friday, the VA Inspector General said that the questionable payments were made under three contracts with the University of Pittsburgh Physicians with a combined value of $11.1 million. The contracts were in 2010 and 2011.
"Our review found that VAPHS was certifying invoices for payment without any substantive review or verification that the hours billed to the VA were actually rendered to the VA," the report states.
The auditors attributed the lapses to the lack of monitoring. In fact the official assigned to monitor work under the contract wasn't even at the same location.
Barbara Forsha, acting regional director of the Pittsburgh VA said in a response to questions said that her office took immediate action "to correct these shortcomings in our system. We are working to complete the recommendations the VA OIG set in the report as quickly as we can."
Wendy Zellner, spokeswoman for UPP said in an email response to questions,"We have a long an effective partnership with the VA and are committed to following all government rules and regulations. We are studying this report to see if any changes in our practices are necessary."

Calling discovery of the monitor's absence "particularly troubling," the auditors said they learned that the monitor's review consisted of simply matching up the hours billed with accompanying time sheets.
"The contracting officer was stationed at another facility and did not and could not conduct any real time monitoring of physician time sheet entries," the IG concluded.
The IG's own review of the time sheets, which included analysis of actual corresponding surgical records found that there were hours billed in anesthesiology and cardiac surgery that could not be accounted for.
In anesthesiology, for instance, a review of 20 days with billings totaling $80,659, found two entries for a total of seven hours that could not be accounted for.
Also cited by the auditors was the practice of physicians signing in up to 12 hours before records showed they actually began performing surgery.
One surgeon signed in at 6 a.m., but the surgery did not begin until 8:10 p.m.
"This practice went undetected for the entire two-year contract," the report states.
In another case, the VA was billed at a full time rate for a physician who was working only part time. Overpayments totaled $44,082, according to the report..
The report also questioned overhead payments to UPP totaling $847,733 which the IG found were not supported or documented to be in compliance with VA directives.
The auditors concluded that the questionable billing as recorded in the time sheets "should have been a red flag."