Veterans Affairs Department employee Nancy Fitchner's "simple" idea — to allow patients to take home leftover medications that otherwise would be discarded — won her a meeting with President Barack Obama today. And more importantly, her idea is projected to save VA $3.8 million in one year.

Fichtner, a program support clerk at the Grand Junction, Colo., VA Medical Center, presented the cost-saving idea to Obama in the Oval Office Monday. Fichtner was the winner of the first-ever SAVE (Securing Americans Value and Efficiency) Award. Federal employees submitted more than 38,000 suggestions in the contest, and Fitchner was selected by popular online vote from among four finalists.

"She noticed that whenever patients left the hospital, leftover medications like eye drops or inhalers were just thrown away. And often, veterans would have to go right back to the pharmacy to refill what was discarded. So the VA is paying twice — it's waste, plain and simple," Obama said at a news conference at the White House just after meeting with Fichtner and her family.

VA will pilot a system at four to six test sites in March to label medications for patients to take home, said Katie Roberts, a VA spokeswoman. The program will be expanded to all VA medical centers by the start of 2011, saving an estimated $3.8 million a year, she said.

Fichter said winning the contest has inspired others at her office to speak out about their ideas for improving government.

"We see that you can make a difference. … All of my friends have ideas. It's catching on that we can do all kinds of stuff if we just try," Fichter said in an interview.

Fichtner said she was bothered for years by watching employees throw away good medication. She said she was told the medication couldn't be sent home with patients because there were no dosing directions. Sending home directions was just a matter of printing out directions but bureaucracy made change difficult, she said.

"It's just putting a little label on. … it's too simple. It's just a problem of cutting through red tape," Fichtner said.

Obama said the SAVE Award program will be a yearly event, and he encouraged federal employees to speak up about waste and potential savings.

"If you see a way that government could do its job better, or do the same job for less money, I want to know about it," he said.

Federal agencies are also implementing dozens of ideas suggested through the SAVE contest as part of "a transformation of how government works," Obama said.

"While promoting electronic pay stubs or scheduling Social Security appointments online or re-purposing unused government supplies may not be the most glamorous reforms in history, when taken together, these small changes can add up," he said.

Tell us what you think. E-mail Rebecca Neal.