It was clear that VA was in need of reform, and when the president asked for help, I could not say no. First, I felt I could help, and my private sector experience was relevant. Second, that this was my chance to give back to those that had stepped up to serve our country.

David Shulkin

Yes. Were still in a war, so we could. much of my narrative deals with the factions pushing me to simply close the VA or at least large parts of it that werent working well.

David Shulkin

politics

Shulkin may not be a veteran, but he does come from a military family. He was born on a military base in Illinois and his father was an Army physiatrist, according to the Military Times. Both of his grandfathers served during World War I, one of whom was also the chief pharmacist at the VA in Madison, Wisconsin. Hailing from a military family has sensitized me to the psychological and medical needs of those who served our country.

David Shulkin

politics

No judge who has never run a hospital and never cared for our nation’s veterans will force me to put an employee back in a position when he allowed the facility to pose potential safety risks to our Veterans, protecting our veterans is my most important responsibility.

David Shulkin

latest-headlines

One Veteran suicide is one too many.

David Shulkin

health

I've always approached my job first as a physician. I'm here to help and take care of patients. I'm an administrator second.

David Shulkin

help job take-care care

We have about 360,000 employees in the VA health care system. It's the largest health care system in the country. And the negative attention that's been put on VA has hurt the morale of our workforce. And so what we're trying to do is to get people to understand that we're doing great work every day.

David Shulkin

day health work people

Part of what any good health-care professional does, including an advanced-practice nurse, is know when it is time to seek help from more experienced professionals. I'm a primary care doctor. It doesn't mean I know everything. When something is beyond my competency or expertise, I seek consultation from my colleagues.

David Shulkin

doctor good colleagues time

The first responsibility that we have to our veterans is to make sure those that need urgent care are getting care on time.

David Shulkin

veterans care responsibility time

I don't believe that the problems in the VA are necessarily about money. When I look back over the problems of the VA over the past decade, this is fundamentally a system that hasn't kept up with modernization in the way that the rest of health care in the private sector has.

David Shulkin

look health money past

We are a system where I can tell you that nobody is doing more for behavioral health care in this country than the VA.

David Shulkin

nobody you care health

A veteran deserves the very best health care anywhere. That means sometimes, they should go out into the private sector if something's being done better than the VA.

David Shulkin

best care health sometimes

There will be far greater accountability, dramatically improved access, responsiveness, and expanded care options, but the Department of Veterans Affairs will not be privatized under my watch.

David Shulkin

veterans will accountability care

If there is evidence that an employee has broken the law, caused harm to veterans, or have violated the public trust, they should be terminated immediately. Instead, due to overly cumbersome and lengthy arbitrations as well as extensive bureaucratic red tape, VA has not been able to remove employees as quickly as we would have liked.

David Shulkin

red trust broken law

Accountability is a two way street. We can't just make it easier for us to fire people; we must make it easier for us to hire people. It takes VA an average of 240 days to complete the hiring process for executives joining VA from outside government. We are losing talented people because it simply takes too long.

David Shulkin

government fire long people

What we know about American medicine is that our supply of health-care professionals is not equally distributed. In rural areas, we have severe shortages.

David Shulkin

american about know medicine

I do think that VA, as the largest employer of nurses and the largest health system in the country, often does become a place where we can demonstrate advances in medical practice.

David Shulkin

think medical health practice

VA is a unique national resource that is worth saving, and I am committed to doing just that.

David Shulkin

worth i-am doing unique

My career goal is to work as a liaison between organized medicine, government, and third-party payers.

David Shulkin

career medicine government work