Va Official Called Out On $74,000 In Benefits

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VA OFFICIAL CALLED OUT ON $74,000 IN BENEFITS

The VA's VISN 4 director intervened and pressured subordinates to gain approval of an unusual dual-track education payment program for a family friend.

NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... Use our search engine for more about Michael Moreland ... here ...

Veterans Affairs official called out on $74K in benefits

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

The Department of Veterans Affairs' top regional official intervened and pressured subordinates to gain approval of an unusual dual-track education payment program for a family friend.

Records the Tribune-Review obtained show that Michael Moreland, director of the VA's Region 4, pushed for approval of two tuition payment programs worth a combined $74,000 for Megan Sartore, 27, of Cranberry, a pharmacist employed at the VA's Highland Drive facility since 2009.

Moreland refused a request for an interview and would not answer questions submitted to his press office about his efforts on Sartore's behalf.

E-mails the Trib reviewed show an increasingly impatient Moreland questioned a VA human resources officer about the approvals.

In a July 12 e-mail to human resources director Marie Colosimo, Moreland wrote: "I have been told multiple times this has been fixed, it is fixed ... it has been over a year. See if it is being paid."

Additionally, VA sources said Moreland called Colosimo late on a Sunday evening, demanding to know the status of the loan requests and why they weren't approved. Moreland, through a spokesman, denied making such a phone call.

A month earlier, Sartore herself questioned Colosimo about the holdup in an e-mail.

"Am I enrolled in both programs yet?" she wrote June 15. "Please advise at earliest convenience."

Colosimo replied in an e-mail that VA administrators requested "additional justification from me, because of the unusual request for dual compensation from both programs at the same time."

Asked about Moreland's intervention on her behalf, Sartore said: "No one was listening. I went through the chain of command. If someone is not doing their job, you go to the next step up. Do you have any idea of all the problems I went through?"

She said she was merely trying to get benefits promised to her when she was hired.

VA Region 4 spokesman David E. Cowgill issued a two-paragraph response stating that it was typical for Moreland to receive inquiries from VA employees in the region.

"In his capacity as the director and chief executive officer of VISN 4, Mr. Moreland often makes inquiries about these concerns to medical center leadership or department level supervisors at each of the 10 medical centers in our network," Cowgill wrote.

Records show Sartore simultaneously applied for two tuition programs, raising questions among VA officials. Nonetheless, VA administrators approved Sartore's applications for the Education Debt Reduction Program and the Student Loan Repayment Program in late July.

To justify the unusual request, Colosimo wrote in a June 4 memo to Sylvia Delsa with the VA's Healthcare Retention & Recruitment Office in New Orleans that "clinical pharmacists are historically difficult to recruit in the Pittsburgh area," and that "it is very difficult to find applicants with extensive clinical pharmacy experience."

Yet, records the Trib obtained show that Sartore is classified as a "staff pharmacist" and not a "clinical pharmacist," which requires different training.

In a written response to questions, Colosimo acknowledged that Sartore is not a clinical pharmacist but wrote that the "quoted statement refers to experience, not title."

Colosimo said she is "not personally aware of a relationship" between Sartore and the Morelands.

Asked whether she considered Moreland's inquiries on Sartore's behalf unusual, Colosimo wrote: "I often receive specific inquiries from Mr. Moreland on a variety of topics."

She said Sartore is not the only employee to benefit from both tuition assistance programs.

Cowgill said he could not provide data on how many other agency employees, in Pittsburgh or nationally, were benefiting from both programs siimultaneously.

Records show the Education Debt Reduction Program could provide $44,000 to Sartore to pay off her college loans through 2014, provided she remains a VA employee during that time. Under the Student Loan Repayment Program, she is eligible for up to $30,000 more, in yearly payouts of $10,000. Under that program, the annual payments go directly to a lender and not an employee.

In his July 12 e-mail, Moreland did ask about the status of applications by other pharmacists for educational assistance.

"How about the other pharncist (sic) ... are they receiving payment yet???" he wrote.

State records show Sartore was granted a pharmacist intern license on Oct. 31, 2005. The state issued her a full pharmacist license Nov. 4, 2008.

Michael Moreland's wife, Barbara, sponsored Sartore this year for a Western Pennsylvania Dressage Association event. Barbara Moreland is active in the association, an equestrian organization in which Sartore competed.

Sartore declined to discuss her relationship with the Moreland family, calling it a personal matter.

"My relationship outside the VA is private," she said.