Veterans raise concerns over new Dallas VA Director's appointment
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The Department of Veterans Affairs is defending the hiring of a new director for the country's second-largest VA health care system after stakeholders representing local veteran's groups in North Texas asked for the hiring to be stopped or delayed.
The concerns come weeks after the announcement Jason Cave would be taking over at the VA North Texas Health Care System. He replaced Dr. Stephen Holt who left last year to work with VA's regional office.
Veterans say although Cave is coming in from a smaller system, they aren't necessarily questioning his qualifications. Rather, they're concerned they haven't been able to determine what hiring process was used to bring Cave on, and that the job was never posted.
Interim director Kendrick Brown, who has led the NTVAHCS since March, they don't believe was ever interviewed to take on the job full time.
Stakeholders also said they were left out of conversations about the best fit for a new permanent director, which they have been a part of in the past.
"There's a trust issue here," said James Williams, a retired Major General in the Marine Corps. "And I don't want our veterans to walk down there and think that somebody is trying to undermine them in their care."
Quality of care at the Dallas VA came under scrutiny a decade ago after a series of complaints and allegations from patients and employees. In recent years though the system has seen steady expansion, with a new facility in Garland, new parking structures on the main campus in Dallas and nearly $300 million for a spinal cord injury center.
Williams said he and Ken Watterson with the Veterans Resource Center, met last month with Dr. Wendell Jones, the director of the VA Heart of Texas Network which oversees facilities across most of the state.
Jones gave them the sense Cave's hiring was a done deal, Williams explained, without detailing the process used to select him. To Williams, that was a red flag.
Williams said he had hoped to meet with Secretary of Veteran's Affairs Denis McDonough when he visited Waco last month, but the meeting didn't happen. He has emailed and called the secretary's office, and said he knows staff is aware of the concerns.
"We aren't even being seen as 'well you're not important enough for me to go talk to before I get into this position,' leaves a bad taste in my mouth," said Domingo Rodriguez, who works with the Military Veteran Peer Network.
Codey Marshall, with the organization Roof 4 Vets, described the detailed process veterans are required to follow to receive healthcare through the VA. If the same written processes aren't followed at the highest levels though, he said, it can have the appearance of cronyism.
The VA Heart of Texas Network however, told CBS11 it can fill the position non-competitively, or through an open process. Without saying specifically how Cave was chosen for the job, the department wrote in an email that it was vetted by the Office Of General Counsel.
The department also wrote that while it welcomes feedback from partners, that hiring is a full internal process, and that it is legally prohibited from having external groups be a part of it.
The announcement on Cave's hiring last month, said he had held key leadership positions within the department since 2011, and completed three of VA's Leadership Development Programs.
Cave had been acting as the CEO for South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio since June 2022.