--- title: Veterans: VA Chief Announces Restructuring Over Wait Times description: The VA will undergo a big organizational restructuring following the revelations that hundreds of veterans were subjected to long wait times canonical: https://time.com/3576614/va-restructuring-firing/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-10T20:58:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:20:42.220Z article:section: Politics og:title: Veterans Affairs Chief Announces Big Restructuring Over Wait Times og:description: Announcement comes on the eve of Veterans Day og:url: https://time.com/3576614/va-restructuring-firing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Veterans Affairs Chief Announces Big Restructuring Over Wait Times twitter:description: Announcement comes on the eve of Veterans Day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Veterans Affairs Chief Announces Big Restructuring Over Wait Times by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 10, 2014 8:58 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 10, 2014 8:58 PM UTC The Department of Veterans Affairs will undergo a large organizational restructuring following the explosive revelations that hundreds of veterans were subjected to long wait times before receiving health care, Secretary Robert McDonald [announced](http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/10/politics/va-reforms-and-restructuring/) on Monday. Disciplinary action had been taken against 5,600 employees within the last year and more firings were to come, McDonald [told CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/politics/va-reforms-and-restructuring/), adding “we are acting aggressively, expeditiously, and consistent with the law.” The day before McDonald’s announcement, he acknowledged plans to hire around 28,000 medical professionals—including 2,500 devoted to mental health care—to join the VA’s hospitals and reduce the lack of timely appointments. He also said he intends to recruit young doctors with incentives like student loan forgiveness. Since the scandal came to light, there have been more than 100 investigations of VA facilities take on by organizations from the FBI to the Department of Justice. \[[_CNN_](http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/politics/va-reforms-and-restructuring/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3576614/va-restructuring-firing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3576614/va-restructuring-firing/"},"headline":"Veterans Affairs Chief Announces Big Restructuring Over Wait Times","datePublished":"2014-11-10T20:58:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:20:42.220Z","description":"Announcement comes on the eve of Veterans Day","url":"https://time.com/3576614/va-restructuring-firing/","keywords":["Health Care","Veterans","Veterans Affairs","VA"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3576614/va-restructuring-firing/","name":"Veterans Affairs Chief Announces Big Restructuring Over Wait Times"}}]}] ```