Roseburg VA health care director replaced

Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley issued a statement on Paxton’s resignation.

“It’s been clear from the growing number of troubling reports from veterans served in Roseburg’s VA system that change is needed to provide the top-notch care those veterans deserve,” Wyden and Merkley said.

“We hope this change marks a needed step forward to achieve the goal of transforming the VA’s Roseburg system into a place worthy of the veterans who rely on it for quality health care,” the senators said. “Rest assured, we will continue to work with Congressman DeFazio to ensure this management change and other steps to move the VA to address longstanding allegations of substandard care, misconduct, mismanagement, retaliation toward whistle-blowers and a toxic work environment.”

ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) – The Department of Veterans Affairs says Doug Paxton has been replaced as director of its medical center in Roseburg.

The move announced Thursday comes days after the chief of surgery stepped down.

The leadership changes arrive as the VA investigates allegations of mismanagement and a culture of bullying and retaliation against whistle-blowers.

The VA says the moves were made to improve care for veterans at one of its lowest-performing facilities.

It says it expects improvement in several target areas, including access to care, performance measures, patient experience, employee experience and mortality. If the Roseburg VA doesn’t meet those goals, a team of improvement coaches will be dispatched.

Paxton is being replaced on an interim basis by David Whitmer, chief operating officer of the St. Petersburg, Florida-based Sunshine Health Network.