Craziness at Nashville VA

Started by gasdoc77
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gasdoc77

gasdoc77

A mere instrument: nothing less, nothing more.
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Their anesthesia department has had countless allegations of hostile work environment and recently had a (related?) death when a 48 yo healthy MDA left work distraught after a private “performance review” and never returned..to allegedly be found by his colleagues (upon not showing up for his next shift) deceased with anesthesia drugs around him.

Also they apparently have forced doctors (and CRNAs) to spend extended periods washing dishes, pushing dumpsters, etc.

What's next? Having an anesthesia chain gang with litter spears?
 
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THE VA is a nasty place. People telling reporting each other, weak leadership, filing harassment charges for dumb reasons, EEO process is abused, they write congress FILe OIG complaints. Chiefs reviewing your preops and putting you on FPPE for not calculating STOP BANG Score. Every VA is different but it;s nasty. I dont know any of the details of this case but i can the jist it can be unbearable. They are LIFERS at the VA. They love working for the govt because the VA requires so little of them and they get a pension.

AND people want medicare for all.. it will all descend to this .
 
gasdoc77 said:
Their anesthesia department has had countless allegations of hostile work environment and recently had a (related?) death when a 48 yo healthy MDA left work distraught after a private “performance review” and never returned..to allegedly be found by his colleagues (upon not showing up for his next shift) deceased with anesthesia drugs around him.

Also they apparently have forced doctors (and CRNAs) to spend extended periods washing dishes, pushing dumpsters, etc.

What's next? Having an anesthesia chain gang with litter spears?
Click to expand...
was there reporting on this or you know about this backchannel?
 
“Also they apparently have forced doctors (and CRNAs) to spend extended periods washing dishes, pushing dumpsters, etc.”

I sometimes dream of doing mindless work with no repercussions for doing it wrong. Even better if they’re paying me a doctor’s salary.
 
NPJR said:
THE VA is a nasty place. People telling reporting each other, weak leadership, filing harassment charges for dumb reasons, EEO process is abused, they write congress FILe OIG complaints. Chiefs reviewing your preops and putting you on FPPE for not calculating STOP BANG Score. Every VA is different but it;s nasty. I dont know any of the details of this case but i can the jist it can be unbearable. They are LIFERS at the VA. They love working for the govt because the VA requires so little of them and they get a pension.

AND people want medicare for all.. it will all descend to this .
Click to expand...
Pension isn’t that good after 2012. That’s why the Va really only makes sense if you are a doc around age 57. Because the healthcare benefit to retire immediately at age 62 is actually worth more than then small 15-17k a year pension after 5 years (the healthcare benefit is worth 10-12k a year)

And frankly if you are young. You are better off in private rather than contribute to a pension post tax. Most of that post tax money you contribute you are better off re investing elsewhere and likely getting a better return vs working for the Va for 20 plus years.
 
aneftp said:
Pension isn’t that good after 2012. That’s why the Va really only makes sense if you are a doc around age 57. Because the healthcare benefit to retire immediately at age 62 is actually worth more than then small 15-17k a year pension after 5 years (the healthcare benefit is worth 10-12k a year)

And frankly if you are young. You are better off in private rather than contribute to a pension post tax. Most of that post tax money you contribute you are better off re investing elsewhere and likely getting a better return vs working for the Va for 20 plus years.
Click to expand...
do you know how much post tax money they take from every paycheck to contribute to FERS?
And, if you seperate from the VA with 10 years and return at 61 and retire there at 62 do you get the healhcare benefits?
 
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NPJR said:
do you know how much post tax money they take from every paycheck to contribute to FERS?
And, if you seperate from the VA with 10 years and return at 61 and retire there at 62 do you get the healhcare benefits?
Click to expand...
Fers is not good anymore since Obama and the dems changed in after Dec 31 2012

4.4% post tax contributions for new employees compared to 0.8% post tax pre 2013.

The healthcare is more important if your want to game the system and start the Va later in ur career to maximize ur private practice income.

Yes. U only need to jump back into the Va for one year after being vested after 5 years to the the healthcare at age 62.

The Va pension payout is heavily taxed as well. And only a tiny portion of it is not taxed. (1986 tax law changed)


“How FERS Pensions Are Taxed Today


Since inception, FERS has required a pro-rata "cost recovery" method rather than a front-loaded tax-free recovery:


1. Pro-Rata Exclusion: Every single monthly FERS payment is split into a taxable portion and a tax-free portion from day one.


2. The Tax-Free Part: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) calculates a small tax-free amount for each check based on your total lifetime after-tax contributions divided actuarially across your expected lifespan (using the IRS "Simplified Method").


3. The Taxable Part: The vast majority of your monthly FERS pension is taxed immediately as ordinary income because it represents government-funded contributions and investment earnings.


4. Full Taxation Later: Once you live long enough to collect the total sum of your original after-tax contributions, that small tax-free exclusion stops, and 100% of your pension becomes taxable.”
 
FEHB: Federal Employee Health Benefit. The various offerings of health insurance plans from several major carriers (Blue Cross, etc.).

"In order to carry your FEHB coverage into retirement, you must have been continuously enrolled (or covered as a family member) in any FEHB plan(s) for the 5 years of service immediately before the date your annuity starts, or for the full period(s) of service since your first opportunity to enroll (if less than 5 years). The 5 year requirement period can include the following: the time you are covered as a family member under another person's FEHB enrollment; or the time you are covered under the Uniformed Services Health Benefits Program (also known as TRICARE) as long as you were covered under an FEHB enrollment at the time of your retirement."

There is no age adjustment to the premium. Choices are simply self, self plus one, and self plus family. Qualifying to voluntarily carry your FEHB into retirement is one of the biggest pluses of working for Uncle. I have it from working enough years as a civilian employee at a military hospital. That, plus my Tricare for Life after retiring from the Navy, costs me and my not-too-healthy wife in her 60s less than $600/month total with miniscule out of pocket. The same Blue Cross coverage through my wife's public university system from which she retired as faculty is currently $1,400/month.
 
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NPJR said:
was there reporting on this or you know about this backchannel?
Click to expand...
Back channel. That said, I do know this guy (went to medical school with him) and everyone thought highly of him. Supposedly he was pushing dumpsters around after being (obviously) vocal about the Nashville VA culture and even standing up for a coworker. All kidding aside, if you were pulled from clinical duties and worried about loss of skills/credentials/licensure, washing dishes might not seem so appealing (particularly when they are using other peoples' careers as "Punishment", demoralizing everyone in the process).

 
As a former VA employee (but not in Nashville), I'm not surprised. I loved working at the VA for the technology and the patients, but in my experience leadership spots from the chief level up were occupied by clinical idiots who were only interested in making their personal schedule better at the expense of the rest of the group. If my former chief knew it was an option to have us push dumpsters instead of possibly leaving a few minutes early for the day, he totally would have. But definitely saw and experienced retaliatory performance reviews/call and room assignments for petty disagreements all the time.
 
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