SecVA press conference, 6/27/23

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us today for our monthly press conference. As you know, we have many things to discuss a lot of things, great things coming out of the department as of late. So, with that said, I’ll go ahead and get this thing started and pass it on to Secretary McDonough.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Terrence, thanks very much. Good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for the chance to chat with you a little bit. I in terms of my opening remarks today, I just want to introduce our guest today, Cheryl Rawls, who is the Executive Director Outreach, Transition, and Economic Development, that’s what we call OTED which is a really important office in the Veterans Benefits Administration.

Cheryl is a proud Army Veteran. She has had an enormous and enormously impactful career at VA. Where she has led on the full range of services that are provided at VBA. And we talked this week about having her come by to talk about an important symposium that she led last week.

Regarding our work on military sexual trauma. And the symposium was one of a series of regular engagements with our experts whom we have now set up for the last couple of years to handle every single claim that has to do with MST, Military Sexual Trauma, when it comes to VA, knowing of the attention that this set of issues has gotten, mindful of the importance of our improving our performance on this important set of issues.

We thought it was really important to take the opportunity to hear from Cheryl on how things are going. And anytime you get to meet with Cheryl, it’s a highly positive experience. So, Cheryl, over to you.

Cheryl Rawls (Executive Director Outreach, Transition, and Economic Development): Well, hello, everyone, and thank you very much, Secretary McDonough, for having me here today. We’ve been spending a lot of time together, and I have appreciated having the opportunity to talk to you about some of the things we’re doing. Today, I want to take some time to talk about the efforts that the Veterans Benefits Administration is taking to ensure that our survivors of military sexual trauma have access and receive the benefits that.

They deserve. As we all know, MST is a deeply complex issue that affects the lives of countless Veterans, both men and women across our nation. It inflicts emotional wounds that are often invisible but leave lasting scars. We must recognize the immense courage it takes for survivors to come forward and seek the help that they deserve.

Let me emphasize this point. VA will provide free treatment for any physical or mental health condition related to experiences of MST. There is no documentation needed. of anyone experiencing MST related to their event or a VA disability waiting to get VA care. You do not need documentation, or a claim pending or approved to get help.

Now that I’ve said that, let me tell you how we are supporting those who suffer chronic mental health conditions and other disabilities due to military sexual trauma experienced during their military service. This topic is so sensitive and multifaceted. That MST related claims makes it critically important that VA provides high quality support to Veterans in a compassionate and trauma informed manner that is worthy of their service and sacrifice.

To ensure the best handling of our MST claims, VBA continues and has made significant changes to better serve this population. We’ve consolidated our claims processing to a dedicated, specially trained team to review all disability claims related to military sexual trauma. VBA also has MST outreach coordinators, one male, one female, at each of their 56 regional offices in the United States to assist those Veterans.

And finally, as mentioned, file secretary, we just completed our annual Military Sexual Trauma National Training Symposium last week. We had over 200 attendees of Veteran service officers and various stakeholders. We also invited a military sexual trauma survivor. who attended and that we’re continuing to be in communication with her.

Our theme was Resiliency Through Collaborating, Expanding the Knowledge, MST, and the PACT Act. So, what did we do last week? We spoke to those processors and those outreach coordinators, our stakeholders, about trauma informed interactions. and talked about appropriate messaging. We had training on the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson honoring our promise to address comprehensive toxics, also known as the PACT Act.

We allowed time for engagement of those outreach coordinators with stakeholders to talk through ways to better serve And lastly, because we are accountable, there were conversations around quality assurance and what we need to do to ensure that there is consistency throughout the process. Now, as a result of our efforts, the grant rate for MST related PTSD claims has risen every year from 2013 to 2020.

That is, in 2013, it was 50.5% grant rate and in 2022, the grant rate is 74.6. 2022 is the last year, full year, that we have data on. We’ve seen a significant increase in the filing of MST claims. primarily due to our increased outreach, increased communications on the MST program, and the PACT Act legislation.

In fiscal year 22, we completed 28,354 MST related claims. And as of June 2023, getting close to the fourth quarter, we’ve already completed 30,575 MST related claims. This is certainly exceeding what we were able to do last year. Our current inventory of MST claims is a little over 29,000. So, how do we go forward and what are we doing?

One, we are continuing, we are working to reach out to our collaborators and stakeholders and ensure that we’re partnering with them as the secretary mentioned. We’re ensuring that we’re have an integrated approach to claims processing. As you mentioned, I’m in outreach, but we’re also working with those who are in the policy and procedures, as well as those who are accountable for the operations, the three of us, who lead those organizations get together.

Every other week and talk about our strategy and what we’re doing. We’ve engaged on so many different levels. We recently completed our MST journey map, which took a look at focus sessions with our VSOs. It’s an employee human centered design. And right now, we are continuing to enhance those findings by looking at our claims.

Fourth, our partnerships mean everything to us. VBA and DoD have just signed a memorandum of agreement that will give VBA access to information including personally identifiable information of service members, who made an unrestricted report of sexual assault to DoD and whose data is maintained in their systems.

We will use that data to the fullest extent and we’re currently working out the processes and procedures to ensure that we are accurately accessing and completely applying this across our organization.

Lastly, we are not just staying within these four walls. I had an opportunity to participate in a congressional roundtable that focused on MST and had several survivors and stakeholders.

So, we are out there, and we are talking, we are listening, and we are making changes.

So, thank you again, sir, for inviting me and allowing me to share this information, and I look forward to any questions.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Thank you Cheryl for joining us today. And with that we’ll open the floor up to questions. Ellen, how are you?

Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis): Thank you all so much for doing this. Ellen Milhiser with Synopsys. Y’all have frequently talked about zero tolerance within VA for sexual assault and harassment. Do you have any projects in progress with DOD to identify perpetrators of sexual assault and harassment in DoD to keep those people away from … Veterans with MST claims.

Cheryl Rawls (Executive Director Outreach, Transition, and Economic Development): So, ma’am, we don’t have specific projects that would align with the question you put on the table. However, we are partnering with DoD through various I would say, formal entities. There is the Joint Executive Council, which I’m sure you’re familiar with, that does have threads of sexual assault throughout the conversations for particular groups.

During our training last week, we had DoD’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) come over and talk to us about what they’re doing. And then lastly, I’ve already mentioned that we’re partnering with them to get the unrestricted files. This topic is also one that we talk about in transition.

Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis): So, if I could spend a little time since that is one of the items in my bucket, and in transition, when we are providing the VA one day, we talk with the service members of ways to report and how VA will use that and reemphasize that sexual assault is never. acceptable. So, there are lots of ways that we’re covering, ensuring we’re getting the information.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah, Ellen, I might just add one thing for you. I’m sure you saw this news last week or maybe it was earlier this week we have now announced that 1-800-MYVA411 is, can be used as a reporting channel for instances of sexual assault, sexual harassment. So, we are trying to increase access to options to report for our Veterans.

And then, of course, obviously you’re familiar with all the steps we’re taking in terms of best practices to ensure dedicated access to our clinics in our hospitals for women Veterans.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Thank you, Ellen. Leo.

Leo Shane (Military Times): Thank you all for doing this. Leo Shane with Military Times. Mr. Secretary, I wanted to talk to you about the House Appropriations bill right now looking at the VA budget for next year. It includes a lot of provisions related to scaling back abortion services at VA, scaling back transgender medical care even has some issues with the pride flag and things like that.

What is your concern level with Congress getting into some of these issues and potentially forcing VA to make changes that they say are wrong? Political statements from VA and not really about care.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah, thanks so much for the question, Leo. Obviously have not been able to read the whole bill yet but did see the reporting on it and to take a quick look at the bill itself. I think what I’d say is, this is the beginning of the process and have open, transparent conversations with Members of Congress, appropriators, authorizers, Republicans, Democrats, House members, senators on all of these issues. I’ve had as you can imagine, a series of very involved conversations on each of those topics, going back not just over the course of the last couple weeks, but over the course of the last several months. And so that is as it should be.

I feel good about the decisions we’ve made the decisions we’ve made are We are focused entirely on improving outcomes and access for our Veterans and that’s what we intend to keep doing. But it’s a little early in the process to come to any, you know, start, any more stark conclusions than that.

Leo Shane (Military Times): So, you haven’t had a chance to talk to any of the folks on the Appropriations Committee yet about those provisions?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): I have not spoken to them specifically about those provisions, but surely have spoken to appropriators and authorizers about the underlying policy choices that we’ve made, those provisions we are obviously focused on.

Leo Shane (Military Times): Okay.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): So, just as an example, I was just in Austin with Chairman Carter, Judge Carter not long ago. So, of course, we discussed a whole range of issues. So, but as to the specific provisions, I haven’t had discussions on those.

Leo Shane (Military Times): Okay, and one of those issues is on the transgender care issue, we just passed the two-year mark since you announced plans for the department to start offering gender confirmation surgeries.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yes.

Leo Shane (Military Times): We still have not seen any announcement. It seems like this is still pretty far away. Can you explain to us what the holdup with this process is at this point?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah, I, I, you know, as I’ve said to you, I think. I think the last time you and I talked about this we were on Capitol Hill in the hallway and, and this issue rests with me at the moment. And you know, the question is when we take the next step which would be to propose a rule that would allow us to, to take these steps. I’m not yet ready to do that and I’m, you know, getting myself, make sure, making sure I understand all the. Issues associated with that and when I have that, you know, and, and ready to do, consistent with the Administrative Procedures Act, we’ll follow that rulemaking process.

Leo Shane (Military Times): I think we had that conversation in early spring and we had a similar conversation last fall that this was with you. Is there, I mean, what at this point needs to move forward? Is there anything that the community can bring forward or anything you need to hear from Congress? Or?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): No, I’ve had those conversations with members of Congress and have had those conversations with members of the community. And you know, the bottom line is that when I make the decision, I, it’ll be my job to defend it. And so I want to make sure that I’m in the best position to do that.

Leo Shane (Military Times): Okay. Thank you.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Thanks.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Good afternoon, Lucy.

Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Mr. Secretary, if you can talk about the standing up the equity team, our understanding is, is that you have named the leaders of the team. Who are they and how did you choose and what will they do?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah, thanks, Lucy, so much. Obviously, our mission is to provide every Veteran with the world class care and access to benefits that each Veteran has earned no matter their gender, race, age, ethnicity, religion, sexual identity, or disability. And the agency equity team is an important first step in that or next step in that matter. We have also stood up Equity Assurance Office inside of VBA. That office will be led by Laureen Carson, a long-time experienced leader within VBA who I routinely say this, I’m, I’m very impressed by the both Geographic mobility and the substantive mobility that our VBA leaders like Cheryl and like Laureen demonstrate.

So, Laureen brings experience from a full range of issues in the VBA experience. And so, we’re obviously looking very much forward to that work accelerating. And making sure that we get to the bottom of this so that, as I say, every Veteran can ensure they get access to the benefits and the care that they’ve earned.

Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Mr. Secretary, if I could follow up with a question on this, a lot of people that we’ve interviewed have said that this work is redundant. You already had the Center for Minority Veterans. You already have other DEI entities within the VA. What is this group going to be doing that isn’t a redundant use of taxpayer dollars?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah. Well, thanks so much. The, it’s the, the standing up of the equity assurance office in VBA is new and it is unique, especially an assurance office run by a VBA leader with the kind of experience and expertise that we have in Laureen. And so, it is a new function and it’s a new function being carried out with the experience of this steady leader. And you know, Laureen, as with the broader agency equity team, will be reporting her findings directly to the VA Deputy Secretary. So, all this is new. It’s demanded, I think, by both the president as well as our ongoing concern that we’ve talked about, Lucy, during the course of these engagements over the course of the last several months. And we’ll stay on top of it until we can ensure every Veteran that they get the benefits and the care that they have earned.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Thank you, Lucy. Patricia.

Patricia Kime (Military.com): Patricia Kime with Military.com. So we have a couple deadlines coming up regarding the PACT Act with health care and also benefits, back to, backdating benefits. Can you give us an update on the PACT Act and what you all are doing to sort of get the word out that these deadlines are coming up?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah, thanks. Thanks very much. Patricia, it’s good to see you. The I tried to cover up my socks today because I think last time I was here, you pointed out that I had a hole in my socks.

PACT Act claims received 665,773. PACT Act claims approved 279,925. We are granting under the PACT Act at about a 79% grant rate, which is obviously the importance of and the beauty of the presumptions that are at, of service connection, that are at the heart of the PACT Act itself. So, those are PACT Act specific numbers.

Second, I routinely want to make sure that I’m reporting to you on the disability claims backlog, which would include, obviously, claims filed for any disability, not specific only to the PACT Act. The disability backlog right now is 231,503, which is a slight increase over last the last month we talked about this but you know, we continue to receive a record number of claims filed, and we continue to resolve claims at a record number, about 15% higher than last year. But I also know that we are receiving about 30% more claims this year than we did last year, as we anticipated we would. So those 5, 000 or so hires we’ve made since late 2021 have been very important and they’re beginning to show real production numbers overall.

Patricia Kime (Military.com): Couple follow ups. Number one, with the 79% approval rating, I’m kind of wondering what the average, like, disability rating that they’re getting.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): It’s a good question. Let me see if I can get you that.

Patricia Kime (Military.com): Okay. Yeah. And then also, you frequently have said, you know, people who file their claims before August 10 of this year will have it backdated to August 9. What is the qualifier there in terms of May? Is it, if they’re awarded a thing, they will definitely get it back? Or are there certain levels of Veterans who won’t have it, like, backdated to the August 9?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): So, let me answer that question in a minute, but let me just state very clearly for our Veterans and family members who are watching the, the fundamental issue, which is that if you file a claim or you file an intent to file a claim on or before August 9, 2023. And if we are able to grant you that claim the benefits you earn from that granted claim will accrue as of August 10, 2022. Now, that’s true in the overwhelming majority of cases. The specific qualifier maybe Cheryl, you, you know but that’s a little bit outside your basket right now. But I can follow up on why we can’t say definitively that every Veteran will get that backdate.

Patricia Kime (Military.com): Okay. Thank you, sir.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Melissa, good afternoon.

Melissa Burke (the Detroit News): Thanks for doing this. Mr. Secretary. It’s been almost about a year since Dr. Reeves was detailed from the Detroit VA. I understand she’ was let go this month. And I wondered if there’s anything you could say at all about why, what the terms were of her separation.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): I can’t, I don’t think say anything about the terms of the separation. I can say that she was removed from the position. It’s really important to us that we fill the job with a permanent leader. That’s obviously also really important to our Veterans who get their care at Detroit. And we’ve also heard from the delegation the congressional delegation and you’ve reported on that and you’re very good and timely reporting on this topic.

So, as you know, the civil service processes allow for various appeals. So, I can’t comment on anything beyond what I’ve said. Other than to say that it’s obviously really important for us to assure Veterans who get their care at the Detroit VA Medical Center that they can have confidence in that care that we’ve identified a series of improvements. And we are eager to hear from the inspector general soon on how he thinks we’re doing on implementing the 12 recommendations that have been handed down.

Melissa Burke (the Detroit News): Has he given you any timeline on that?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): No, you know, I stay in really close touch with IG and I’ll let him talk about timing of his work. I will say that we have appreciated his work as a general matter. We appreciate his work particularly on this case. But I’ll let him talk about timing and, and any of his findings.

Melissa Burke (the Detroit News): Do you know if there is an update, or do you have a timeline on permanent leadership there?

 Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): I don’t, but other than to say it’s an urgent priority.

And so, we’ll obviously be careful to, to respect the rules that govern the civil service. We think that’s really important to maintain a professional independent effective civil service, especially at a time when we’re aggressively recruiting, aggressively retaining continuing to have one of our best years hiring ever.

So, it’s really important that we maintain those important attributes of the civil service. But even as we respect those attributes were moving with due haste to ensure that that important hospital has the leadership that the Veterans there deserve.

Melissa Burke (the Detroit News):  Just clarifying, so the appeals process could potentially delay the hire, the permanent hires?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): No, I didn’t say that. I’m just saying I can’t say much more than what you just said.

Melissa Burke (the Detroit News): Okay. And one more. Besides the OIG review that is ongoing, can you say whether there are other, are there, are there now any more other outstanding investigations that you know of?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Let us take that specific question because I just want to be sure that I don’t mislead you. I’d like to be certain that I know a 100% but I don’t. And so rather than give you the wrong answer, let us we’ll work with Terrence to get you precisely the right answer.

Melissa Burke (the Detroit News): Okay. Thanks very much.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Thank you.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Thank you, Melissa. We’ll turn to Orion. Good afternoon, Orion.

Orion Donovan-Smith (The Spokesman Review): Thank you, Terrence. Mr. Secretary, it’s good to see you.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): I can’t see you. I can only hear you. There he goes.

Orion Donovan-Smith (The Spokesman Review): I’m sorry. Can you see? All right, here we go. Sorry, I can’t be there in person with you today. Orion Donovan Smith with the Spokesman Review.

Mr. Secretary, I know I have a history of asking you a bunch of follow ups, but I’ve just got one question on EHR today. Oracle Cerner reportedly eliminated its entire clinical team as part of another wave of layoffs just earlier this month. Are you confident that the company can meet its contractual obligations to VA during the EHRM reset period despite those layoffs?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah, hey, Orion you’re generous to apologize. You need not we like it when you’re here. We like it when you’re online I do like that I just like getting together with you guys and I appreciate the opportunity to speak to Veterans families caregivers to our workforce through you also I just want to take advantage of your introduction to, to repeat again how much we value the role that each of you plays and how much we appreciate that.

I’m not going to comment on, in fact, I don’t think I could comment on any Oracle Cerner personnel matters, but it is my expectation that that any of the announcements that you’ve talked about or that I’ve read about in the press will not impact our efforts on the new electronic health record here.

So again, I can’t comment on the decisions they’ve made, but it surely would be my expectation that this would not impact our efforts at VA.

Orion Donovan-Smith (The Spokesman Review): All right. Thank you.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Jim LaPorta. Good afternoon. Thanks for joining us today, Jim.

Jim LaPorta (The Messenger): It’s my first VA press conference. Glad to be here. So, my questions for the secretary. Earlier this month me and some friends over at Military.com published an investigation where 4,500 Marines and sailors on the USS Boxer were exposed to water contamination. And skip to present day, a lot of those Marines and sailors were, you know, having an issue filing for disability claims. And you know, I’ve gotten some really good responses back from your, from your press office. There is one question I wanted to ask you, which is kind of on the topic of reprieve, which is, you know, in the course of talking to these box members, they said, you know, this shouldn’t take a journalist coming along and spending five years of their time to unearth documents or to unearth that this actually occurred.

And so, I’m wondering, you know, is there a reprieve for that Marine or sailor who comes to the VA and says, hey, look, this happened to me, but there, there’s just a lack of evidence that shows that it happdened, you know, and then their disability claim is denied. Like what happens in, what kind of reprieve other than, you know.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah.

Jim LaPorta (The Messenger): It’s a good investigative journalist that might take on their story, like what happens then, I guess, is the question I’d ask for you, sir.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah, well, thank thanks very much. And obviously great admiration for all the work that you’ve done. And, you know, consistent with what I just said about the other reporters here in the room and online.

One, I would like to think that it doesn’t require a five year investigative you know, a group of investigative reporters to get to the bottom of what happened. We do have a wide range of ways for us to establish facts to, to, you know, build that connection between a condition a Veteran is suffering.

And the fact that that condition resulted of service we definitely don’t get it right every time being able to rely on additive information to the record from independent investigations is useful. But, you know, we’re constantly looking for additional tools, additional information.

We just we were talking earlier today about a new search function available in our VBMS system that’s being deployed at the moment, which should increase the ease with which our Veteran service representatives and raters are able to develop The fact basis for these rulings and so Our hope is that we just constantly get better, Jim.

Second, when a Veteran gets an initial ruling the Veteran does obviously have right to higher level review. And that Veteran has right to appeal at the Board of Veterans Appeals. And so, I hope that every Veteran if they feel that they’ve gotten the wrong ruling will avail themselves of those appeal options.

Third, and last As Cheryl was saying, specifically as it relates to MST survivors it takes an act of courage and an act of trust to file a claim, particularly as it relates to MST survivors, but as it relates to every Veteran. And so we recognize too that there is more we can do to establish trust and deepen the trust between the VA and those Veterans.

And that’s why we have begun using The Trust Survey, as it relates to the benefits process, much the way we use that survey and the resulting data as it relates to VHA services as well. We think that that process, where we hold ourselves to account for the specific experience of each Veteran will make us better.

I said that as the last point, but let me just say one last point, which is I am very proud of the team and the work they’re doing. I’m not saying that we get it right every time, but this team is working mandatory overtime voluntary overtime. They’re producing at levels not seen in the past ever in the history of VA and resolving cases and claims more quickly than ever doing that, by the way, throughout the pandemic as well. So, I’m very proud of their work but I also recognize that as, as all of us do that we can get better at it.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Thanks for joining us, Jim. David, you there?

David Elfin (CyberVets): I’m here, Terrence. Good afternoon. David Elfin, CyberVets. Can you hear me okay?

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): We can hear you.

David Elfin (CyberVets): Okay, great. Mr. Secretary, I’ve got two topics we haven’t touched on yet. The first is speaking of trust The JustCulture initiative that Dr. Cox runs for you. I wonder if I could get a comment from you about how that’s working and what you think of it.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): I think Dr. Cox is very important leader in the VA who also happens to be emblematic of the commitment to quality outcomes that our workforce generally portrays and personifies. I will say that every meeting I go into, I start my prep with the very data heavy analysis tools that Jerry Cox and his team have put together.

It informs a very Veteran centric data heavy set of engagements with our professionals across the country. And there’s never been once that I’ve pulled out that data in a meeting that every one of our clinicians around the table didn’t know what the data was. Meaning everybody is using that data to make sure that we’re focused on outcomes for Vets. That’s a, that’s a manifestation of Dr. Cox’s good work and his team’s good work.

David Elfin (CyberVets): Secretary McDonough a follow up on that though, sir. The JustCulture model, do you like how it works aside from Dr. Cox’s leadership? Do you like the idea that they’re looking more for what went wrong than who made the mistake?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Oh, yeah. Sorry. I’m sorry. I misunderstood the question. Yes. The JustCulture model is at the heart of the HRO philosophy, the high reliability organization philosophy that really informs VHA’s overall care model. I am impressed by it. I support it. I have committed to our leaders like Dr. Cox that I will do everything I can to continue to support it. And I will just say, you know, there’s nothing more reassuring to me than when I get a chance to visit a hospital or a clinic. And I see during a change over a team huddled around their huddle board. Leveling with one another in a warm handoff situation between shifts about the decisions that they made during the course of the ending shift, what the results of that were for their Veterans and their care, and also acknowledging if there are things that they could do better; I think that’s the kind of Veteran centric highly reliable organization that I want VA to be.

David Elfin (CyberVets): And Secretary, one other topic unrelated. You are just in the process of finalizing the contract with AFGE, which of course, you know, is the largest in the federal government. Took a long time to get it done. Do you think that the VA contract with AFGE and maybe some others recently like NTEU with HHS, are we seeing a trend? I’m asking you to maybe put your big picture hat on maybe like when you were in the Obama administration. Is it a good time for federal L.R. Do you see good things happening between unions and management?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah, thanks. I mean, without commenting specifically about the contract because I, you know, I still have to formally sign it. I want to make sure I’ve I’ve minded I’ve minded my Ps and my Qs. I will say I’m not familiar with the other contract that you mentioned, but I will say that the president has been very insistent that we recognize that our labor partners are just that, partners. And it’s that sense that informs our philosophy here at VA. And when we do work in partnership, we … improve outcomes for Veterans, and that’s at the end of the day, the most important measurement that I see. And you know, as I see that from our labor partners, I’m reminded again, as I’ve told them at every stop I’ve had when I meet with local labor leaders that I believe a unionized workforce is a strong workforce, and the reason I believe that is I continue to see positive outcomes for our Veterans, and as long as we continue to see that I think that’s fundamentally in our, in the Veteran’s interest and in the country’s interest.

David Elfin (CyberVets): Thank you very much.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Thank you, David. We’ll circle back to Lucy.

Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Thank you, Terrence. Mr. Secretary, if you could go back to the people that are serving, I know that you mentioned Laureen Carson who’s going to lead this new equity team and it’s going to be part of the VA answering to Undersecretary Josh Jacobs but, is there any outside entity there: OIG or any kind of academic that’s going to be serving with this group that’s going to be offering some sort of an independent look at the numbers that, frankly, we’ve already seen through a four years that have been answered through litigation. Anyone from the outside that’s going to be providing data analysis on the grant rate disparity between Black Veterans, white Veterans, Hispanic Veterans, et cetera.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah. Thanks so much. So, it dawns on me that I did not share with you the co-chairs of the agency equity team. The co-chairs will be Assistant Secretary Gina Grosso of our human resources administration and Undersecretary Josh Jacobs who’s the undersecretary for benefits at VBA. In terms of, so I think your question might really relate particularly to the work of Laureen Carson at the Benefits Assurance, the Equity Assurance Office at VBA.

And if Laureen were to determine that, it would take an extra look. With outside validators. We’d obviously be open to that. I don’t, I don’t want to prejudge how she thinks we should structure this. One. Two. We did put a lot of data out on Friday. And as you said, there’s been a lot of data shared.

Through FOIA requests, we take really seriously our obligations under FOIA. We take really seriously our obligations to Congress in the balance of powers, and we will continue to make sure that that, that data is out there. One of the benefits of having that data out there, including that data that we provided on Friday, is that independent eyes do see it and help us make best sense of it.

Lastly, I just want to underscore one more time to all of our Veterans out there, this is why it’s been so important to us here at VA that we apply the customer experience model to the Veteran benefits experience. We’ve been doing the customer experience survey data, relying on that at VHA going back to 2014. And we are getting much better at care provision as a result of that data. We intend to do precisely the same thing at VBA.

Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Mr. Secretary, if you can please answer this follow up question on this. We did receive the data. We didn’t receive the raw data on which you based your summaries on, but we did see that there is a 10% disparity between Black Veterans and white Veterans, fiscal year 2017 to 2023. So now that you have that number and others have argued that you’ve had these numbers., how fast is the turnaround time going to be to actually contacting those Veterans that were maybe inappropriately denied over racial issues? And say, hey, try again. We, we want to make this right. Or maybe you were discharged less than honorably. What is that turnaround going to look like?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah. So, let’s take those two questions separately because I think the other than honorable discharges presents an entirely different issue. And maybe since we’re still in pride month, why don’t I just take a minute to comment about the fact that going back to 2021 we did say that we would prioritize reaching out to Veterans who have other than honorable discharges and make sure that they know that we can make, they can ask for and we can make an assessment of the character of that discharge.

And I’m really proud that while by no means have, we reached every Veteran including every Veteran who received an other than honorable discharge related to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, I am happy to say that in 2022, and now throughout 2023, we are reviewing nearly three times more, on average, characters of discharge then had been the case in the previous seven or eight years. Before then, we had been reviewing about three to 5,000 cases a year. In 2022, we reviewed more than 11,000 cases. So, that’s on the character of discharge.

If you are a Veteran who has an other than honorable discharge, for whatever reason, please come see us, and we’ll work with you to review the character of that discharge, and see if we can get you service connection, and see if we can get you care and benefits.

On the data, Lucy, I think you’re right that one the data is in one way, as you just suggested. There’s other ways to look at the data that suggest other finding, meaning, for example, that black Veterans are more likely to file claims than white Veterans. But my point here is that while that data, this latest data that we put out, raises more questions maybe than it answers.

The idea behind the council is to tackle these questions and eliminate those disparities as it relates to access to VA care and VA benefits. And so we also recognize this may take some time, but we feel urgency because each of these individual cases is not just a number. Each of these individual cases is a Veteran and we want to make sure that we’re doing our level that we’re, we are doing fulfilling our obligation to each of those Veterans.

Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I apologize for the interruption. There is something to be said for how far back you will go. And if this will mean that you will review each case and pay out. What was due to that Veteran? Obviously, there’s pending litigation with this. We know the VA has filed a motion to state the discovery process for this information.

If you could talk about how far back, you are willing to go in these numbers with this Veteran of color population. And if it’s going to be just in the data that you have dating back to 2002, for example, or if you’re going to try to go back to the first layer of the GI Bill starting with World War II Veterans, how far back are you going to look?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Thanks so much for the question. You know again, I don’t want to prejudge the very important work that Lauren Carson is doing. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Cheryl Rawls. I also have a lot of admiration and respect for Laureen. And so, I’m going to make sure that she knows that she has my full backing and my support to answer these questions in the way that gets to the truth. That’s point one.

Point two, I think I’ve said in this room before, Lucy, to your questions, the way I see this is the following; it’s important that we snap a chalk line, metaphorically speaking, and say here going forward, we’re going to make sure that we’re doing everything, learning from our OTED director who helps us on outreach and making sure that we’re reaching out to all of our Veterans to get them the benefits for example, under the PACT Act that they have earned. So, that aggressive outreach chalk line forward is really important. And that’s why we’re doing the things we’re doing, including as we announced earlier today.

The Vet fest for July, where we’re going to be communicating to our Veterans that please file your claim or your intent to file a claim before August 9. Chalk line backwards, we have to get to the bottom of what the experience of individual Veterans was, and then we have to make some decisions about how we will address that. I’m not going to prejudge that, Lucy, but I’m again, I’m not going to prejudge that.

Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): And last question for you, sir, on a separate topic, if you will, Mr. Secretary, I saw on LinkedIn, actually, that the former commander of Special Ops, Four Star General Votel, you sat with him and you asked him to please encourage special forces and special operations Veterans to apply for PACT Act. I’ve also noticed that there are quite a few locations where this crew deployed to, such as Niger, that’s not covered under the PACT Act. Is there anything that is being done right now to add more locations where the Special Ops community did deploy to the PACT Act legislation? It was nice that you saw General Votel’s LinkedIn post.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): I am so proud of my association with General Votel. As a Minnesotan, I’m particularly proud of him, and that gives me an opportunity, by the way, just to point out that I did wear my Minnesota Twins tie today. The Twins will be in Baltimore later this week. A couple members of my security detail are very fond of Baltimore, so sorry in advance that they’ll have to lose to the Twins.

But on a much more serious note. What General Votel communicated is that it’s not a Veteran’s worry or concern that If you were deployed under classified orders, for example, that you have to you know, you cannot file a claim because you were deployed under classified orders. That’s our job and we have ways to work in secure compartmentalized information facilities, SCIFs, with appropriately cleared people to make those determinations.

Cheryl can talk at length about this given the experience that she has in North Carolina in her career. So, what General Votel I’m so thankful that he communicated what he did is to our Veterans. Thanks. That said, no matter where you what, no matter the nature of your deployment, if you are in these areas covered by the PACT Act, please file. It’s on us at VA to work out how we get the truth, the full picture about that deployment so that we can get you the benefits and care that you have earned. Veterans deployed in other areas, geographically. Please still file a claim, be that Niger or somewhere else. And even without the presumption of service connection, we will work with you to establish that connection.

So that’s what we say, even as we continue to work with Congress to see if there are other places that we should legislate those presumptive connections.

Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): I promise you, sir. This is this is it. Is the way doing anything?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): This is now like Orion because he’s usually like three times last question, you know. You’re like you have mail it in.

Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Last one I promise. Is the VA doing anything to check for unaccredited VA companies, people they’re trying to cash in on PACT Act? I see a listing right now on VA.gov that there is actually a company that, that is not accredited on here. Do you guys Vet these before it joins the website? What’s, what’s the clearance behind the scenes look like?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Well, why don’t we get you a full briefing on that? I don’t know what you’re looking at precisely. But yes, we, we, if we find that there is an unethical actor, what we alone accredit, accredited organizations, one, we take that very seriously.

Two, if we see an actor, accredited or otherwise, behaving unethically, we will provide them from our general counsel’s office a cease-and-desist letter.

Third, most importantly to all Veterans out there, please, you do not need to hire someone or pay someone to get you what you’ve earned in terms of your VA benefits.

Talk to your county VSO. Talk to, to your state VSO. Talk to Wounded Warrior Project, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, VFW, Paralyzed Vets of America. And talk to us directly at VA, VA.gov/PACT or at 1-800-MYVA411 and we’ll get you your claims filed. You don’t need to pay anybody to do that.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Thank you everybody. I think that concludes today’s press conference. Thank you, Cheryl, for joining us. Truly appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. We’ll see everybody next month.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Thank you. Appreciate it. Pleasure to be here.