VA Secretary Nominee Wilkie Claims He Does Not Support Privatization

President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, Robert Wilkie, claimed that he does not support moving the Agency toward privatization during his Senate confirmation hearing.

When asked by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) whether he would “vigorously oppose any effort to privatize the VA?” Mr Wilkie responded that he would not support efforts to privatization the agency—but he argued that the term is “privatization” is also misused to malign reform efforts to increase access to care.

Mr Wilkie said that instead the agency must be more “agile and adaptive,” in order to meet the needs of veterans.

“Many of the issues I encountered as acting secretary were not with the quality of medical care but with getting our veterans through the door to reach that care,” Mr Wilkie said during his confirmation hearing. “Those problems are administrative and bureaucratic… That is where VA must go.”

Additionally, Mr Wilkie commented that he will not instate a new EHR system until the Agency has properly tested the new system. The VA is currently poised to implement a $2 billion EHR overhaul developed by Cerner—a system that has recently been plagued with issues during its implementation at the Department of Defense.

—David Costill

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