NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS Ohio VA employees received big bonuses

Associated Press

DAYTON

Ohio Veterans Affairs hospitals paid out nearly $6.5 million in bonuses to more than 6,000 employees in the past year, a newspaper analysis has found.

The bonuses went to employees of the state’s five VA hospitals during a year the agency was criticized for long veterans’ waits for health care and workers falsifying records to cover up delays, according to the Dayton Daily News, which obtained the database of VA salaries and bonuses through a public records request.

Bonus payouts at Ohio’s VA hospitals dropped from nearly $7.7 million in 2013 to $6.5 million in federal fiscal year 2014, which ended Oct. 1. The average bonus in 2014 was $700.

One Dayton VA doctor received bonuses in 2013 and 2014 after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs paid out $300,000 to settle a malpractice claim naming her, the newspaper reported.

Federal reforms passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama after a summer of outrage over how long veterans were waiting for care have limited the budget for VA bonuses to $360 million — a $40 million reduction.

Top administrators received the largest bonuses in Ohio last year, according to records. Jack Hetrick, director of the VA in Ohio, received the largest bonus: $12,579. That was on top of his $181,497 salary.

U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who sits on the Senate veterans affairs committee, said limits to bonuses must be balanced against paying enough to attract high-quality employees.

“Our veterans deserve the highest level of care possible,” he said. “Recruiting and retaining skilled medical and administrative professionals, in the current national health care provider shortage, is a difficult challenge.”