Vets (Still!) Waiting Months for first app with VA

General General Discussion
1

WFT? VA claims average is 4 days.

It’s not over: Veterans waiting months for appointments

Los Angeles (CNN)Thousands of veterans who are patients at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System have been waiting months just for an appointment, CNN has learned.
CNN Investigations

What’s more, administrators in charge of the massive VA facility in greater Los Angeles may have been hiding wait times, and may have misled Congress on the delays and exactly how long veterans are being forced to wait for care, according to new information obtained by CNN.

This revelation means that the scandal over delays in care and wait times for veterans, which embroiled the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs last year and even led to the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, is apparently not over. And the changes promised by the VA and the Obama administration may not be working.

The detailed new evidence comes from the Los Angeles VA’s own internal documents obtained by CNN, and numerous medical and administrative sources confirmed the information.

It is particularly significant as the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Medical Center is the nation’s largest VA health care system, caring for hundreds of thousands of U.S. veterans.

The VA documents show more than 12,700 appointments, which the VA calls consults, had been waiting more than 90 days to be addressed, as of mid-January.

Even new patients seeking care at the Los Angeles VA for the first time can wait months to see a doctor there.

Records show on January 15, more than 1,600 veterans who were new patients were waiting 60 to 90 days for appointments. Another 400 veterans have waited up to six months, and 64 veterans had been waiting six months to a year for their appointments…

The documents provided to CNN show the lengthy wait times are still happening, within the last several months, and sources say the backlog is happening even now.

Cont:

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/13/us/va-investigation-los-angeles/

2

The Veterans Health Administration has been standing joke in the medical community for more than 4 decades. Nobody who has been associated with the VHA from the provider end could be surprised at the level of dysfunction, or that fact that it is still going on.

3

If the VA does not have the means to see a Veteran who needs medical care within a reasonable amount of time, the VA should pay for the Veteran to see a competent physician engaged in private practice.

4

Abolish the VA and give each vet a credit card, what’s the porblem?

5

This is actually happening, though I have no idea how well.

6

Their appointment scheduling system may be ****ed up, but because I don’t have any chronic issues the treatment I receive at the ER is more than acceptable to me.

7

I had to wait 2 and a half years for the VA to recognize me as a veteran, 66,000+ is what my local clinic told me were like me waiting just to get into the door. Bullshit, a Marine Died here in the Twin Cities and they changed his appointment after his death, this far and above is why I hate the President, Senators and Congressmen from my State. BS, just pure BS.

8

When I first went there at 22 years old in 2005, they classified me as a Operation Desert Storm Veteran. I still don’t know if they ever straightened that out. I had a 3-4 week wait for an MRI to see what was torn in my knee. ACL, PCL, LCL and Medial Meniscus. 6 month wait for surgery. PT during that time and I was able to walk and run when 5 months rolled around. I said **** it no way they’re cutting me open and having more PT. Especially seeing as how my savings was depleted and unemployment was long ran out. Just wait until the private sector catches up from Omaocare and everyone is crying for single payer.

9

No, “everyone” won’t be crying for single payer. A very vocal minority (squeaky wheel) of freeloaders will though, like people currently getting subsidized by the taxpayer for their Obamacare.

10

You’re describing an efficient and more patient-friendly version of the Canadian single-payer system. Many of them would love to have wait times that short.

11

I was in the Army 22 years (1977-1999). I do no use VA hospitals and Doctors. Have had private purchased group health insurance since getting out via my Wife. She’s an RN supervisor at a hospital here in New Mexico. The VA is very similar to the Indian Health Service (IHS). Filled with doctors getting college loans paid off by serving in the IHS or VA systems for a few years. These are generally young doctors with little experience outside of residencies and the classroom.

The VA Health system is a disgrace. There has to be a better way to take care of Vets. I thought about abolishing that system of government health and using the money for vouchers to pay for private health insurance, but that would require some adjustment in the cost of private health care. No easy answers.

12

I minimize my dealings with anything VA related, from education benefits to healthcare. Im still pretty healthy and so is my family, GEHA is good enough for now.

13

Outside of the wait for my disability appointments (3 years) the longest it took for me to schedule an appointment was 3 months, and that was just so I could get a referral from my primary to see the cardiologist. As soon as I get married in May and get on my fiancee’s insurance I’ll never visit the VA again.

14

Were you having a heart attack?

15

Yup - aside from maximizing education benefits (which I’ll be funding right back over just the first decade or so of career after exhausting those), I’m healthy so I avoid the VA - I don’t need it, and that appointment slot can help somebody else.

16

Nope, I had heart surgery thru the VA a few years ago and needed to go back in to get cleared so I could get some dental work done by a private dentist.

17

I would imagine it would follow the rates of Medicare part C. No easy answers but it would probably be cheaper than trying to revamp the whole system. Another option would be an opt-in program that mirrors Medicare part C.

Edit: I just created a petition for program that mirrors Medicare part C. Sign it and spread it around and let’s see if this can get some traction.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/petition-common-sense-solution-create-opt-program-veterans-mirrors-medicare-part-c/j0JnMn0S

18

Sure, dump 9 million patients on the commercial healthcare industry at or below Medicare reimbursement rates and see how that goes over. Hell, some docs don’t even want to take new Medicare patients due to the red tape and decreasing rates (remember, Medicare is being cut by 500 billion over 10 years).

The problem with the VA is two-fold as I see it:

  1. The reason for the VA being “free” for vets is they are almost always associated with a medical school and therefore you have residents actually doing most of the surgeries (under the tutelage of an attending doc) and making most of the major medical decisions. VA’s are by and large teaching institutions. Experienced docs move on to private practice.

  2. Due to the sheer number of patients being seen, and also in part to it being a government bureaucracy, the wait times for VA appointments can be excessive.

Not sure what the answer to the above issues are but, as mentioned previously, the VA is now allowing commercial healthcare if the wait time for a VA appointment exceeds a reasonable amount of time (I think it’s 90 days but don’t quote me on that).

As far as the actual care you will receive if admitted to a VA hospital goes it’s basically the same as any other hospital (nurses, lab, respiratory therapists, X-ray, etc.). I know because I’ve been in healthcare for almost 25 years and have worked in both environments.