A senior VA executive whose duties include overseeing the troubled national health enrollment office in Atlanta is leaving the agency in an abrupt announcement put out by his executive assistant on Thursday.
Philip Matkovsky, the Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations & Management, oversaw the national health enrollment system that was at the root of a problem that led to hundreds of thousands of veterans ending up in an application backlog.
That problem, first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in June, later came up in a Congressional hearing and was one of the areas the VA’s Office of Inspector General investigated. That investigation is nearing completion, but a report has not been issued.
Mr. Matkovsky answered his cell phone Thursday afternoon, but said he couldn’t talk because he was in a meeting. A call to VA’s public affairs officials was not immediately returned, but an agency spokesperson issued this statement to the AJC:
“Mr. Philip Matkovsky, current Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management, will leave federal service effective January 2, 2014 after six years of service. Matkovsky has been instrumental in leading key contracting, capital asset management, access and VA Choice initiatives. VA is grateful to Mr. Matkovsky for his service. VA will announce Matkovsky’s replacement soon.”
