VA REFUSES TO RELEASE DATA USED TO SET PAY FOR

DOCTORS AND DENTISTS -- AFGE, the VA's union,

is considering legal action.

Why the secrecy?

I'm sure glad the AFGE is there as a buffer to keep a handle on situations like this.

AFGE web site here... www.afge.org

We have a news story and an AFGE press release.

Story here... http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0606/062606r1.htm

Story below:

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VA refuses to release data used to set pay for doctors, dentists

By Karen Rutzick
krutzick@govexec.com

A union representing doctors and dentists in the Veterans Affairs Department is considering legal action after the agency refused to release data used to set their pay.

In April, the Veterans Health Administration denied a January Freedom of Information Act request from the largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees. AFGE wants to see the market surveys the agency is using to set new pay ranges for medical workers covered under a 2004 law that removed them from the General Schedule, which is the standard pay system for federal employees.

VHA officials initially said they could not release the market surveys, which were purchased from four survey companies and used to set national base pay, because of copyright restrictions, but an appeal from AFGE is still under consideration in the general counsel's office, a spokeswoman said. The survey companies are being contacted and given a chance to object to the information's disclosure.

Congress changed the rules for paying VA doctors and dentists to attract and retain more of the high-demand employees. The new system includes local, market-sensitive pay and performance components in addition to base salary. Performance standards have not been put into place yet, but local market decisions are in the process of being finalized.

AFGE legislative representative Marilyn Park said secrecy over the surveys, and how they would be used in each location, is disturbing. VHA has not included AFGE in the decision-making process, she said.

"There was no accountability to anybody because they wouldn't say to us, 'This was the data we used to say this is what a radiologist in Newark, New Jersey, should make,' " Park said. "This is not the way to make doctors stay or come to the VA. The message is 'We don't care what you think. We don't want your input. We're going to do this secretly and here's your paycheck.' "

AFGE officials, who were not specific about the type of legal action they might take against the agency, said they were surprised by VA's rebuff because the union collaborated on the initial bill.

"Even though AFGE played a huge part in getting the physicians pay bill passed, the VA has intentionally excluded the union and the VA employees it represents from the process to determine pay rates," AFGE President John Gage said in a statement.

AFGE officials said withholding the survey information, even for a few months, is affecting panels setting local market pay. The panels, which by law must include practicing clinicians not in management positions, should be able to refer to the surveys for help in determining local market pay, according to the union.

"Without the proper information regarding pay, DVA employees are limited in their ability to provide factual and accurate records documenting the true market rates for physicians and dentists in their respective region and area of work," Gage said in a letter to the VA general counsel.

The survey companies used by the VA are the Association of American Medical Colleges, Hospital Healthcare Compensation Services, Sullivan Cotter & Associates and Physician Executive Management Center.

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AFGE press release here... http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=634

Press release below:

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AFGE DECRIES DEPT. OF VETERANS AFFAIRS DECISION TO WITHHOLD PHYSICIAN'S PAY INFORMATION

Union, VA Employees Left out of Pay Range Discussions, says AFGE

WASHINGTON—The American Federation of Government Employees today decried the Department of Veterans Affairs’ arbitrary denial of the union’s request for data used to set pay ranges for physicians and dentists employed by the VA’s Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

The VA’s effort to set new pay ranges for physicians and dentists is the result of a bill passed by Congress in 2004 to help recruit and retain competent health care providers. AFGE submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the VA for the survey data used to set pay ranges for VHA physicians and dentists in different parts of the country.

AFGE waited four months for a reply from the VA. The VA denied the union’s request basing its decision on a FOIA exemption that “protects from disclosure all privileged and confidential commercial or financial information obtained from a person.” However, AFGE never asked for an individual’s information in its FOIA request.

“We never asked to know how much a particular physician or dentist is being paid,” said AFGE National President John Gage. “We simply asked what data were being used to determine pay for a group of physicians in a particular area or locality. It makes no sense to deny access to records when the sources of the pay surveys and the compiled data are already matters of public record.”

AFGE maintains that the VA’s refusal to provide the information is particularly outrageous given that AFGE was unexpectedly left out of the initial process for selecting the pay surveys and setting national pay ranges. These arbitrary actions took place during a critical period when local medical centers were convening compensation panels to set local pay levels.

“The VA is scheduled to fully implement the new pay ranges in the upcoming months,” said Gage. “As representatives of these employees, our primary goal is to ensure that the agency carries out its agenda within the constraints of the law and that physicians, dentists and other employees are paid at fair, market rates.”

The VA’s exclusion of AFGE during the implementation of this important legislation comes as a surprise and disappointment given the collaborative spirit that existed during the drafting of the legislation. “Even though AFGE played a huge part in getting the physicians pay bill passed, the VA has intentionally excluded the union and the VA employees it represents from the process to determine pay rates,” said Gage. “The VA is acting against the will of Congress, and we are perfectly within our rights to ask for and receive the information we requested. Veterans and taxpayers will be the losers if the VA is unable to attract high-quality medical professionals to the VA.”

AFGE has not ruled out the possibility of taking legal action to obtain the pay rate information.

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The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 600,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

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Larry Scott

(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page)

	Web www.vawatchdog.org

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