David Shulkin: “The Honorable David Shulkin M.D., Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs”

It is my hope we can work together to ensure talented medical professional remain in the VA to deliver quality care to our veterans.

This is a tough job for anybody to do. What the successful secretary needs to do is to build a team around them because this is bigger than any one person, and to work very collaboratively with veteran service organizations and Congress.

I received a phone call saying that the President wanted to make a change, and that's certainly his prerogative to do that, and that's what happened.

The VISN model was put in place close to 20 years ago, a very innovative model that has served VA well.