The head of the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System has received a letter from U.S. Sen. Bob Casey detailing a list of concerns – Sen. John Fetterman, and U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio and Summer Lee are also co-signers.
According to the Pittsburgh VA, it provides medical services to nearly 85,000 veterans across a 13-county service area. The system includes a hospital in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, five out-patient clinics, three community-based counseling centers, and a campus in O’Hara Township that has a nursing home, ambulatory care, and speech and pathology services.
One of the issues that elected officials raise is that last year the Pittsburgh VA was one of just nine out of 114 VA health systems to receive a single-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The majority of VA hospitals in the U.S. got either four or five stars. Before 2023, VA hospitals did not receive Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings — which was designed to help consumers compare the quality of providers.
The letter acknowledged that the star-rating system was created for the private sector — 2023 was the first year that VAs received ratings on the same scale as non-VA health providers. The elected officials asked Pittsburgh VA Director Donald Koenig to inform them how the health system plans to improve its rating.
The letter also discussed hiring and retention. The members of Congress say they've received reports that despite the Pittsburgh VA being short-staffed, it takes the organization significant time to advertise an open position.
"We ask that you develop a system to track the amount of time between VA management becoming aware of a talent need and VA posting a position to hire to address that need and keep us apprised of this information quarterly," said the letter.
Other concerns include the consistency of communication and quality of relationships between VA management, staff and union leadership. A veteran’s suicide that occurred last fall on the O’Hara campus — there were questions as to how the deceased was able to bring a gun into the VA. Also, elected officials have been told of issues with transporting veterans to and from appointments.
*We appreciate the oversight from our congressional representatives, which helps us better serve Veterans, and we are always willing to meet with them to discuss these and any other questions they may have.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
