Chairman calls for firing of Phoenix VA medical director

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) on Tuesday urged the Department of Veterans Affairs to terminate the director of the Phoenix VA Health Care Systems.

The VA announced Tuesday that it was installing Glen Grippen as interim director for one year. 

{mosads}Sharon Helman was suspended as director in May after a VA inspector general report found she was involved with manipulating data about how long veterans had to wait for medical appointments.

Miller said that Helman should be fired and taken off the government payroll.

“This isn’t complicated. If VA has the evidence needed to fire Sharon Helman, which it says it does, it should fire her,” Miller said in a statement. “Keeping Helman and other Phoenix executives on the payroll when the department wants to fire them is nothing more than a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

Miller argued that merely suspending Helman after being implicated in problems at the VA eroded the public’s trust in government generally.

“This is precisely the type of situation that makes the average citizen lose faith in their government and causes quality health care professionals to think twice when considering whether to work at VA,” Miller said.

Grippen retired in 2011 after previously directing the VA’s Milwaukee hospital and the VA’s Rocky Mountain regional network. He will replace acting Phoenix VA Health Care Systems Director Glenn Costie on Nov. 17.