WASHINGTON (AP) – On the eve of Veterans Day, the Veterans Affairs Department is announcing a reorganization designed to make it easier for veterans to gain access to the sprawling department and its many websites.
VA Secretary Robert McDonald calls the reorganization the largest in the department’s history and says it will bring a singular focus on customer service to an agency that serves 22 million veterans.
The department will hire a chief customer service officer and will create a single regional framework that will encompass all aspects of the agency, from health care to benefits, loan centers and even cemetery plots. The VA now has nine organizational maps and at least a dozen websites, many with their own user names and passwords.
McDonald hopes to complete the reorganization within a year.