"Veteran's Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014" Honorable Senator Bernie Sanders(I-VT) and John McCain(R-AZ)

U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa                           June 28, 2014

1800 Thibodo Road

Vista, CA 92081

 

 

re: Support for our Veterans - "Veteran's Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of   2014" Honorable Senator Bernie Sanders(I-VT) and John McCain(R-AZ)

 

 

Dear Congressman Issa,

 

 Please allow me to thank you and your entire staff for all that you do for the country we live in, I really appreciate it. Unfortunately at this time, those that gave to our country are now in need of your support.

 As a pro-bono advocate for the Prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections(HAI), a preventable set of diseases according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,  in our Veteran's Hospitals over the past few years has been a challenge.

 As an advocate I look for solutions and unfortunately the only solution on the table today is:

 "Veteran's Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of   2014" Honorable Senator Bernie Sanders(I-VT) and John McCain(R-AZ)

 

 The details are described in a letter of support from the Honorable Senator Feinstein is enclosed for your convenience. 

 Please support the above listed bill, any line item will help and all would be better, HAI would fall under the more recent accused "cheating on quality reporting", HAI rates not only represent the loss of life and limb but are also an enormous source of fiscal waste, wait times have taken the lives of many Veteran's, HAI has taken exponentially more.

 As a concerned Veteran and taxpayer I would ask you and your office to do all possible to help our Veteran's Hospitals improve safety and efficiencies and as a humble advocate I will thank you for your efforts.

 

Respectfully,

 

Michael H. Slavinski








continued on page 2

page 2

 

Cc:

 

The Honorable President of the United States Barack Obama                                                                                                            

      

 The Honorable United States Senator Barbara Boxer

 

The Honorable United States Senator Dianne Feinstein

 

The Honorable Untied States Congressman Kevin McCarthy

 

The Honorable Untied States Congresswoman Lois Capps

 

The Honorable California Governor Edmond G. Brown

 

The Honorable California Senator Mark Wyland

 

The Honorable California Senator Ed Hernandez

 

The Honorable California Senator William W. Monning

 

The Honorable California Assembly member Rocky Chavez

 

The Hohorable California Assembly member Katcho Achadjian 

 

Mr. Eddy W. Hartenstrin

Publisher and Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles Times

President and Chief Executive Officer, Tribune Company

 

 

 

"If we can improve the quality of care, that will translate into lower cost," Anthem President Pam Kehaly said. "These are real dollars."

 

The Honorable Senator Feinstein and the U.S. Senate!

Dear Mr. Slavinski:   Thank you for sharing with me your concerns regarding the quality of care veterans receive at the Veterans Affairs (VA) health facilities.  Your correspondence is important to me, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.    I share your outrage regarding the long appointment wait times for veterans at VA health facilities and what seems to be a culture of covering up these wait times and waitlists by VA employees.  I strongly believe that Congress and the federal government must do more to honor the sacrifices of veterans and their families, including ensuring that every veteran has access to the health care services they need.    I am deeply concerned that an audit released by the VA on June 9, 2014 indicates that more than 20,000 veterans in California are waiting over 30 days for a medical appointment.  Additionally, the audit shows that nearly 7,000 California veterans are on waiting lists to schedule their medical appointment.  It is unacceptable that veterans are forced to wait months for medical appointments, and I strongly believe Congress must act quickly and decisively to pass legislation to address this situation.    You may be interested to know that on April 30, 2014, I wrote a letter to the VA Acting Inspector General Richard Griffin calling for an expansion of the investigation into the Phoenix VA Health Care System to determine if similar problems were prevalent at other VA health care facilities.  Additionally, I sent a letter to VA Acting Secretary Sloan Gibson expressing my concerns about medical appointment wait times at California VA facilities, and urging him to take immediate action to ensure California's veterans can access the medical care they require and deserve.    I am pleased to have supported the "Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014," which passed the Senate on June 11, 2014 by a vote of 93 to 3.  This bill, introduced by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and John McCain (R-AZ), would improve veterans' access to VA medical services and is currently awaiting consideration by the House of Representatives.   The "Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014" would reform VA health care access by:   · Allowing for the immediate removal of Senior Executive Service officials due to poor job performance.    · Allowing the VA to quickly hire new physicians, nurses, and clinical staff.   · Requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to evaluate and rate VA hospitals on health care quality.   · Providing the VA with resources to lease 26 major medical facilities.  The proposal includes leases for four California facilities in Chico, Chula Vista, Redding, and San Diego.   · Allowing veterans to access care through non-VA providers if the VA cannot give a timely appointment or if a veteran lives more than 40 miles from the closest VA medical facility.    · Establishing Commissions on Access to Care and Capital Planning to explore long-term solutions to provide veterans with high quality and readily accessible medical care.    I commend my colleagues in the Senate for working together to get this bill passed.  I believe it is a big step toward fixing the systemic problems within the VA and provides the resources to have real accountability within the VA, from top to bottom.    Please know that I have carefully noted your concerns, and I will keep them in mind as I continue to review the Inspector General's on-going investigation of the VA health care system and as Congress works to find solutions to help improve health care access to our nation's veterans.    Once again, thank you for taking the time to write me.  I hope you will continue to keep in touch with me on issues of importance to you.  If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841.  Best regards. Sincerely yours,   Dianne Feinstein          United States Senator Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the nation are available at my website, feinstein.senate.gov.  And please visit my YouTube, Facebook and Twitter for more ways to communicate with me.

Orginizing for the prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections!

California Nurses Association                                                                             June 22, 2014

National Nurses Organizing Committee (HQ)

2000 Franklin Street

Oakland, CA 94612

T. 510-273-2200

F. 510-433-2790

 

Re: Organizing for the Prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections!

To whom it may concern,

 Thank you very much for all that you and your membership do for the wellbeing of the residents of California, I really appreciate it. The battle to prevent the needless loss of life and limb and the tremendous fiscal waste in the state of California associated with Healthcare Associated Infections(HAI), a set of preventable diseases according to the US Department of Health and Human Services, lies in the hands of each and every healthcare staff member.

 HAI will not be prevented on a large scale in California without the efforts and leadership contributed by organized labor.

 Our kid recently completed a tour in the US Peace Corps in Sirigu, Ghana, Africa, her mission was to “organize” and “educate” concerning resource management and sustainable agriculture as part of the Masters international program for environmental policy at Bard College, one of the top environmental policy schools in our nation.

 Ok, no clue, trust me, grandma just said “liberals”. The focus is the indigenous  sheabutter industry , employing exclusively women in a nearly impossibly conditions, the rainy season the first year was three months late, misquote nets had not been available to the locals in years with predictable consequences.

 Why would a top notch environmental school be interested in a project like this? First of all, here is what the industry in Sirigu looks like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVvUrrTaghw

What was accomplished? From all that I know and not in my words, “poverty is the greatest threat to the environment”. Next, get outside of the box, what you are looking at is “sustainable agriculture”, when you buy sheabutter products, you know where it comes from and as you can see, it all starts with “organizing”. Healthcare workers are “organized”, the women In the video were trained in the value of quality, should California Nurse Association   choose to educate their members in quality and safety in the workplace here is where to start:

 

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/hai/Pages/default.aspx

 Did our kid accomplish anything, guess so, her thesis won an award along with cash and her work will be included in the curriculum at Bard and her professor will be in Ghana shortly for investigation.

 Obviously, the environmental movement is not waiting for the technological revolution or some other form of grand invention, why should healthcare be? The ACA has opened a lot of doors and exposed our healthcare system for what it is, needlessly dangerous and expensive.

 Ok, the revolution in the sheabutter industry has had a little help, S.A.P. did set up a pro-bono pricing network so the local groups did not have to rely upon local buyers for market conditions. The “magic beans” for the prevention of HAI exist, they work at our community hospital, their goal is not to “reduce” HAI, it is to “prevent” HAI, that simple but I do n=have to admit the new work getting healthcare in the "cloud" is pretty promising.

As an advocate for the prevention of HAI  in our Veteran’s Hospitals, your efforts will help our Vet’s but then again how can a 21 year old kid give a community hope?

 Once again, thank you and the entire membership of the California Nurses Association for your efforts to help others.

Best regards,

 

Michael H. Slavinski                                              http://h-a-i-5.blogspot.com

 

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/hai/Pages/default.aspx

 

AB2616

 

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2616&search_keywords=

Preventing Healthcare Associated Infections in the workplace!

California Nurses Association                                                                             June 15, 2014

National Nurses Organizing Committee (HQ)

2000 Franklin Street

Oakland, CA 94612

T. 510-273-2200

F. 510-433-2790

 

Re: Preventing Healthcare Associated Infections in the workplace!

 

To whom it may concern,

 Thank you very much for all that you and your membership do for the wellbeing of the residents of California, I really appreciate it. The battle to prevent the needless loss of life and limb and the tremendous fiscal waste in the state of California associated with Healthcare Associated Infections(HAI), a set of preventable diseases according to the US Department of Health and Human Services, lies in the hands of each and every healthcare staff member.

 A study published in the May, 2014 American Journal of Critical Care published by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses:

 Adherence to Institutional- Specific Ventilator- Associated Pneumonia Prevention Guidelines(one of the HAI)

Conclusion

The most consistent facilitator of adherence to guidelines for prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia was nurses’ positive attitude toward the guidelines. (American Journal of Critical Care, 2014:23:201-215)

 The deal cut to stop lobbying for the cap of Healthcare CEO compensation did not bode well for us not in healthcare but forced to pay for it, AB 2616 (SKINNER) may be a chance for redemption should the California  Nurses Association chose to start  education your member concerning their role in the prevention of HAI state wide. Provided wee all work together, the bill should cost nothing, MERSA should not exist today in the workplace.

As an advocate for the prevention of HAI in our Veteran’s Hospitals, your efforts will help our Vet’s, I will have something to point at much as I do with the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.

 Once again, thank you and the entire membership of the California Nurses Association for your efforts to help others.

Best regards,

 

Michael H. Slavinski                                              http://h-a-i-5.blogspot.com

 

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/hai/Pages/default.aspx

 

 

Ps Our family adopted country, Ghana, Africa via the US Peace Corps and now via Anthem Blue Cross “GeoBlue” will be playing the USA in the World Cup Soccer match tomorrow night 6/14/2014. Here is a chance to meet the boys, the drums are actually playing a “double beat” very difficult to play, very complex, the team are the “Black Stars”, from their flag. Our kid is now a contractor in the shea industry, north West Ghana, the good part, fist task, find out where the Boko Haram are not operatingL

 These people smile no matter what, we could all learn from them and please do not tell the Vets I am looking Black stars all the way, and yes, Ghana is the birthplace of our modern music.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSCH2L_pNXk

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyyT2_8U2TMHYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyyT2_8U2TM&feature=related"&HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyyT2_8U2TM&feature=related"feature=related