SAVE Award 2011 Department of Veterans Affairs

I feel an extensive amount of money is lost when our facility continues to reimburse the veterans for travel time to/from appointments, to treatments, for methadone therapy, etc. Certain visits should be covered but not chronic conditions requiring daily fees. Also, there doesn't seem to be a reliable check system in place to monitor if the veteran actually did travel said distance for the appointment--some veterans are... more »

There are so many rooms in our hospital and I am sure other gov't buildings where lights are left on when the occupants leave the room. I am sure either timers (for stock rooms , for example) or motion activated switches would save a lot of electricity and money.

My idea which is already in affect in a handful of VAMC-fire departments. The i dea i hev is that all Veteran Affairs Fire departments should be required to provude to the servicing medical center and the veterans of such Ambulance transportation instead of primarily utilizing private transport ambulance companies which increas the cost of transports for VAMC patients because it is guaranteed payment. I have had the fortunate... more »

There are veterans that come into the hospital all the time who are there for something not even related to what they were seperated for and expect to have everything paid for. When I enrolled, the VA made it clear that I was not supposed to do this. The VA hospitals need to set up policies not to treat veterans who are there for other than their service-connected injury or disease. They can give them information on where... more »

We need to stop treating non service connected veterans and nonveterans.

• Repair shops should be closely examined over the estimates of repairs that are issued. Let's put a vehicle repair Czar to commandeer these If we place field examiners in strategic regions to provide oversight on vehicle repair estimates, thousands of tax payer dollars would be saved. GSA approves vehicle repair from an office in front of a computer. This is a short sighted and narrow minded method to ensure we... more »

If each of us who sit in an office would turn out our lights when leaving the room, even if just to go to the bathroom, the amount of energy saved over all would be tremendous! I see too many offices unattended with lights on all the time.

There are too many layers of management in the Department of Veterans Affairs system. By eliminating duplication of work, significant dollars will be saved both immediate (salaries) and long term (benefits/retirement). I am recommending the elimination of at least two (2) levels of management within the Veterans Hospitals and throughout the Department of Veterans Affairs

Service conncected veterans, like myself, recieve compensation for the disability determined to be more than sufficiant for any additional expense the veteran may have for that disability, on top of free medical care, so why can they also collect billions of dollars in travel cash for each visit on top of that?

Besides being wastefull, it is bad for the patients to have the chemicles used from stripping and waxing, particularly in areas used 24-7 like the ER and ICU, when there are industrial no-wax floors available. When they re-did our ER they replace the floor with the same type tyles that have to be waxed. No-wax can be econimically steamed clean for sanitation and even Wal-mart uses the no-wax.

Outpatient areas and exam rooms should have an auto-shut-off after 6pm-which can be flipped back on for on a 1 hour timer if EMS or the Doctor needs to do a little more work in the room. All hallways and waiting areas should go to 1/2 light after visiting hours-9:30 pm. It is more than enough light for safety. EMS and police should be responsible for making sure lights are off when they are done with an area or while... more »

Authorize direct purchase with airlines or through any other means that will save lots of money to the government. I just got back from a training trip for which the plane ticket was overcharged $200+ from the price available through internet for the same trip. When browsing through the internet noted that the price charged to the government was the same fare charged for the 1st class or business plane ticket but sitting... more »

As a nurse in the VA hospital i have noted that all orders generate multiplie pieces of paper. With each patient having multiple orders we go through reams of paper. Our computer system is accessible at all times and has a backup system. my suggestion would be to turn off all printouts for orders on all patients orders and allow nursing and medical staff to review their orders in the CPRS. I am sure this would save... more »

The current disability system rewards Veterans for being disabled. The more disabled a Veteran is - the more money the Veteran gets. The disability system should be based on rewarding Veterans for getting more ability. The disability system needs to work closer with the healthcare side - and ensure that recovery timelines are being met. If a Veteran doesn't make their appointment or doesn't follow their medical care... more »

Currently a disabled Veteran can receive disability benefits from 3 agencies - VA, DOD, and Social Security. Need to overhaul the disability payment systems to ensure that the right amount of payment is provided which is difficult since we have 3 agencies responsible to address the payments for our veterans. Why not only 1 agency - the VA manage all veterans disability payments. This will ensure Veterans receive accurate... more »