Despite billions of extra dollars poured into the agency in the last year and numerous reforms intended to improve veterans' access to care, whistleblowers and internal documents obtained by CNN reveal some VA facilities continue to grapple with appointment wait times of months or more.
Even at the Phoenix VA medical center, where CNN learned last year "secret" appointment lists were hiding how veterans were dying waiting for care, sources say complicated wait-time calculations obscure ongoing appointment delays.
"The reality is veterans are waiting months -- three, six months at a time, sometimes more -- for care at the Phoenix VA," said one source in Phoenix who agreed to speak to CNN anonymously because of fears of retaliation.
The source said this includes veterans waiting for potentially critical health procedures, such as colonoscopies, and other categories of specialty care that require timely attention.
In August, more than 8,000 requests for care had wait times longer than 90 days at the Phoenix VA, according to documents obtained by CNN, but whistleblowers say delays like these are not accurately reflected in public data because of changes in the VA's method of measuring wait times.
"The VA central office enables an official line that's not consistent with reality," the source in Phoenix said.
Additional VA documents show ongoing delays in care are not limited to Phoenix.
An internal VA draft memo from August warns, "Currently wait times are increasing significantly," referring to an overall increase of appointments with delays.
VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson, who received this internal memo, told CNN there are almost 500,000 appointments with extended wait times, which includes appointments with delays longer than 30 days and veterans waiting on a list for appointments to become available.
1 comment:
Sadly, if the expected failure of Obamacare is "saved" by a "single payer" system (like the VA) then all of the population will be getting the VA-type service.
I really don't know why you'd think that the Federal Government, especially under the Obama Administration, would sort out the operations of the VA. Please understand, Government does nothing (I repeat, nothing) well. It greatest skill is in squandering taxpayer funds.
The VA system has exactly ZERO incentive to help its "clients." Indeed, no government office or agency has any incentive to provide "good service" to the public. Like the school system, the offices and agencies exist for the benefit of those who work in the bureaucracy.
While I think the VA's behavior is disgusting, it is unlikely that it will ever be efficient.
Not that this is likely to make you fell any better, but an acquaintance who lives in Maryland (within the suburban Washington D.C. metro area) and is both a Veteran and a retired bureaucrat, tells me that the VA has "wonderful" service. Apparently, you need to live in the Washington D.C. metro area to get good service from the VA, as that it the only area where the VA's normal non-service is actually felt by those that might be in a position to DO something about it.
Sad ... isn't it.
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