Employees involved in the Veterans Health Administration's Innovation Ecosystem are pivoting their projects and creating new ones to respond to the pandemic. VA leaders say the pandemic underscores the importance of its efforts to build up an infrastructure that's supportive of employee-led innovation.
After several successful runs at customer experience pilots in recent years, the Department of Veterans will soon publish a CX best practices guide for other agencies..
The Department of Veterans Affairs is operating on several fronts to keep its services to veterans up to date. One channel for that is the Veterans Health Administration program called the Innovation Ecosystem.
Should animals be used in medical research? The Veterans Health Administration has responded to criticism of the practice but Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to Americans for Medical Progress, an organization that advocates in favor of the ethical use of animals in medical research.
In today's Federal Newscast, medical centers at the Department of Veterans Affairs see a slight improvement in staffing shortages over the last year.
In today's Federal Newscast, two million appointments canceled during the initial wave of the coronavirus pandemic still need rescheduling at the Veterans Health Administration.
In today's Federal Newscast, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee is calling for another delay to employee furloughs at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
In wide-ranging discussion with reporters, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie downplayed the severity of a recent spike in coronavirus cases among veterans. He also urged the rest of government to look to VA as a model for telework, noting most employees were "very happy with it."
After struggling to fill tens of thousands of vacancies for years, the Veterans Health Administration has hired more than 23,000 new employees in three-to-four months. Senators are impressed with the results but wished it didn't take a pandemic to make much-needed changes to VA hiring and onboarding procedures.
Physical distancing has made access to health care particularly difficult for women veterans so VHA has stepped up outreach to them.
In today's Federal Newscast, Veterans Affairs officials tell Congress they're in the process of securing enough materials to test agency employees.
In today's Federal Newscast, a possible silver lining of the coronavirus pandemic, FEMA has a headstart as the 2020 hurricane season officially gets underway.
In today's Federal Newscast, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's inspector general says the agency was generally well prepared for the change to mandatory telework.
Congress — most of it, anyway — returns to Washington with a long agenda. At the top of the list is what will be in a fourth stimulus bill if there is one.
A four-fold increase in telework capacity, as well as a new chat bot and data visualization tool, are all helping the Department of Veterans Affairs respond to the coronavirus pandemic.