How Will David Shulkin Help Veterans Affairs? Firing Poor-Performing Employees An Option, He Says In First Interview

The Department of Veterans Affairs has been tainted by several scandals over the last several years, like poor medical treatment, months-long waiting times for said treatment, stealing drugs from veterans and medical centers and even charges over selling drugs to veterans. Freshly sworn-in VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin said in a recent interview that he could root out poor performing workers in his attempt to reboot the stained department.

“When you have one or two or three people who really aren’t doing their job, they bring everybody down,” Shulkin told Fox News in his first interview since he took over. The segment is one of several from the same interview that Fox will roll out for the rest of the week.

Shulkin pointed to his time in the private sector, where he headed up several hospitals, as an indication of his thinking and management style, as well.

“And so the very best thing I know from my private sector experience is you’ve got to deal with that, you’ve got to get them out of the system, because it helps not only the veterans but the people who work in VA who are trying to do the right thing for veterans,” he said.

When asked about his predecessor Bob McDonald, who took over after the wait-time scandal across several VA medical centers around the country resulted in some deaths and significant shame on the department, Shulkin pressed he would not tolerate some of the more salacious reported behavior but that he also would not “arbitrarily” fire workers.

“Watch us,” he said. “People who don’t show up to work, who do cocaine or who are watching porn at work are going to be fired, because I’m not going to tolerate it, and they’re going to be out of our system. Watch our results there.

“But remember, the vast, vast majority of our employees are dedicated. They could be working anywhere in health care, but they choose to be working at VA. And I’m going to support them, I’m going to be standing behind them.”

In June, the VA informed Congress it would stop enforcing one part of the Veterans, Access Choice and Accountability act that cut down a worker’s appeals process to three weeks rather than months at a time after the 2014 wait-time scandal. The Justice Department stated in May that the shorter appeals were unconstitutional.