VA wait lists longer now than a year ago

[Puppycow]

I'm sure there was a thread about this last year, but I couldn't find it and anyway I figure may as well start a new thread as bump an old one. To refresh your memory, there was a scandal because veterans were not getting timely care and they tried to cover it up with secret waiting lists. General Shinseki ended up resigning over the scandal. Congress supposedly fixed the problem by increasing the VA budget by $16 billion, but apparently it wasn't enough:

VA wait lists longer now than a year ago: 'Something has to give'

WASHINGTON — The number of veterans seeking health care and ending up on waiting lists for a month or more is 50 percent higher now than it was a year ago, when a scandal over false records and long wait times wracked the Department of Veterans Affairs, The New York Times reported.

The VA also faces a budget shortfall of nearly $3 billion, the Times reported in a story posted online ahead of its Sunday editions. The agency is considering furloughs, hiring freezes and other significant moves to reduce the gap, the newspaper reported. The VA budget was increased $16 billion last summer in the wake of the scandal.

The extra money was supposed to reduce wait times:

Q. How does the bill shorten wait times for veterans?

It allows veterans who can’t get an appointment within the VA's wait-time goal, now 30 days, to go outside the VA system for care. That option also exists for those who live more than 40 miles from a VA facility. This $10 billion provision enables a sort of “surge capacity” that “promises to increase veterans’ options for timely, high-quality care,” says Katherine Kidder, research associate at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank.

On the other hand, she warns, “it outsources the VA’s responsibility and removes some of the pressure to reform.”

Q. What about the need to beef up services within the VA?

In the last four years, 2 more million veterans have entered the VA system, with a net increase of 1.5 million more patients, according to Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson. The legislation provides $5 billion to pay for more doctors and nurses and deal with space restrictions in crowded facilities. The VA will be allowed to lease at least 27 medical facilities to help provide access that is closer to home for many veterans, and increase the availability of specialty care.

In the last year, the VA has increased capacity by more than 7 million patient visits per year, double what officials originally thought they needed to fix shortcomings, the Times reported. However, the newspaper added, department officials did not anticipate just how much physician workloads and demand from veterans would continue to soar. At some major veterans hospitals, demand was up by one-fifth, the paper reported.

Apparently they are seeing more patients than ever before, but the demand is growing even faster:

Citing interviews with department officials and internal department budget documents it had obtained, the Times reported that doctors and nurses have handled 2.7 million more appointments than in any previous year, while authorizing 900,000 additional patients to see outside physicians.

So, it seems that the budget increase has not gone to waste as they are in fact handling millions more appointments than before, but it still isn't enough.

 

[alfaniner]

A month ago, I made an appointment and got in two days later. It's not happening everywhere. But it shouldn't be happening at all.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

A month ago, I made an appointment and got in two days later. It's not happening everywhere. But it shouldn't be happening at all.

Ditto. Saw the optometrist on the 19th. Cataract surgery on the 2nd. I think it's a management problem with some hospitals. St. Louis is on the ball.

 

[casebro]

Big city vs small town? Here in San Diego, the VA hospital is part of UCSD medical center. Very few complaints, though a couple retired vets seem to prefer Balboa, even if they have to lie a little to get in.

 

[casebro]

But on the OP: Did thet $16B actually get into service, or was that an "over ten years", or "when admin expands" kind of thing?

 

[crescent]

In related news:

Construction at Denver VA hospital to move forward, but millions still needed to finish it

The hospital in suburban Aurora is expected to cost $1.73 billion, nearly three times the estimate the VA gave last year. The VA said Monday that it was nearing the $800 million spending cap Congress put on the project and work would have to stop next week if Congress didn't act.

Contractor Kiewit-Turner said winding down the work and then cranking it up again would add up to $200 million to the cost.

The deal approved this week doesn't give the VA any additional money but allows it to spend funds it has on hand.

One hears a lot of conflicting stories about the VA.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

In related news:

Construction at Denver VA hospital to move forward, but millions still needed to finish it



One hears a lot of conflicting stories about the VA.

Is the problem, there the VA?

 

[crescent]

Is the problem, there the VA?

I don't know. I could be GSA (the General Services Agency, federal agencies outsource some large contracting and procurement projects to them). It does state the the extra money to complete the project may be coming from money that has already been allocated to the VA. The VA may need to pull money from some other part of its operation to pay for this.

 

[Pope130]

I suspect there are several factors at work here, not all of them the VA's fault.

First; the stats compare the current reported wait times with those before reforms. Do we really know what the actual wait times were in the past? We know that the books were cooked at some locations, and something of the affect at those locations. What we don't know is how widespread the fraud was, and how it affected the overall numbers. Knowing what we don't know, we know that we can't make a good comparison of the current wait times to the real wait times in the past.

Next; the VA customer base is increasing. In the '70s we saw a dramatic shift in the services from the draftee and one term volunteer force of the Vietnam War, to the mostly career force we have now. This means that for the same size active force there would be a smaller number of veterans. In the future this will result in a shrinking of the VA customer base. Currently, however, the VA has a bubble to deal with. I enlisted in '73, making me one of the last Vietnam Era vets. I'm just about to turn 60. I've only had one occasion to see a doctor since retiring, but expect that to change. The big clump of Vietnam era vets from the 1965-1973 period are in their 60s to 80s, and are starting to use a lot more medical services.

Finally; I blame Obama Care! Well, okay, I don't blame it so much as identify it. With the individual mandate of the ACA coming into effect, people who didn't have, or have lost employer funded plans, have had to deal with getting their own. I know several vets who have been reminded of the fact that they qualify for VA, and don't have to shell out for a separate plan. Having been reminded, they have started to use their benefits.

 

[Trakar]

A month ago, I made an appointment and got in two days later. It's not happening everywhere. But it shouldn't be happening at all.

I've never had to wait longer than 6 weeks for an appointment and that was an exception of the norm, with a specialist in a heavily populated region. I keep hearing the complaints but I've been in the VA medical system in various parts of the nation off and on for nearly 4 decades and have yet to experience the delay and quality of service problems I keep hearing about. My care has been exemplary and part of the reason I have worked hard to give back to a system that has served me well for across so many decades.