Posted on 09/18/2017 6:35:48 AM PDT by huldah1776
Internal Department of Veterans Affairs data provided by whistleblowers reveals the agency is only filling about half of its capacity to make medical appointments, even as veterans continue to wait an average of at least 30 days before a medical appointment can be scheduled.
The VA documents show that between July and September of 2017, the agency only used 51.44 percent of the appointments available across its healthcare system.
VA documents also show there are currently 184,520 veterans across the nation waiting longer than 30 days for an appointment and more than 45,000 new veteran patients waiting more than 90 days. Internal VA documents also indicate 479,239 veterans nationwide are waiting for physician requested follow-up appointments over 30 days for the period July to September 2017.
The VA says its times have improved over the last few years.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Government health care
When Bernie Sanders and our nanny state eventually get their way, it won’t just be Veterans asking these questions.
Government health care
When Bernie Sanders and our nanny state eventually get their way, it won’t just be Veterans asking these questions.
That’s not just the VA, it’s pretty much anywhere Uncle $ugar is involved, sadly.
(aka, why your F-35 costs so much, etc...)
In other words, they are union members.
Our government should be taking better care of our vets than the illegal invaders. This is sickening
Core group of vet IGs is an excellent idea. Corpsman, medics, etc would probably love the job and training.
My guy was referred to Mather for a very aggressive form of cancer. They gave him an appointment that was 5 weeks later just to see a doctor, and then the doctor scheduled him for surgery 7 weeks after that. He went outside the system and got the surgery in 2 weeks. Thankfully, it was successful. The Mather doctor was also a jerk.
I got my brother up to the VA Hospital in Portland, OR last year when he was having trouble with weakness and irregular heart beat. They took him right into the ER ward and admitted him to a regular bed straight away. Opened up an artery with a balloon 3 days later, after he was stabilized.
The Portland VA hospital is right next to the Oregon Health Services University main campus, and is largely staffed by OHSU people. Excellent care, nice people. Not at all weird, like so much of Portland.
I would go there myself, if it wasn’t 90 minutes away, through very heavy traffic.
Why?? Because physicians organizations collude with universities and medical schools to keep the number of physicians low and pay levels high. They do it under guise of only selecting the "best and brightest" to become doctors.
I majored in chemistry, and rubbed shoulders with a lot of pre-meds in various chem classes. This was (and is) well known among the student population, and as a grad student teaching labs, I watched it in action.
Follow the money!
This began more than 20 years ago, during the Clinton years. The fed participates in the "conspiracy" as well. The excuse is that having too many doctors and nurses is somehow a bad thing.
Or when a uninformed ER doc only takes your Medicare info and neglects to get the TriCare Life info and waits a year to send you a dun for non payment. There is a time limit to file. You are not responsible for TriCare’s part, they just have to eat what they should of filed for and been paid due to their own oversight mistake.
Memphis has 1 of the worst VA hospitals in the system. Unless you are a Military disabled Vet. Even then they farm a lot of treatment to private doctors.
WAY, way more than 20 years (so it can't be blamed on Clinton)....I finished grad school in 1973, and the practice was very will established even then. I suspect it dates back to the days of the post WWII "GI Bill". Gotta keep all those plebian sorts out of upper-class occupations, y'know.
And yes, I "am" a dinosaur (at least according to nieces and nephews).
If the RATs and RINOs in the senate would get off their sick arses and approve HR1058 half the problem would be gone.
The problems with VA are systemic. Putting a band aid on it or throwing more money will not fix it. It needs total overhaul. I have been fighting VA for many years. All my care is service connected. That is why I keep Medicare with a supplement for when the pain is too severe or the need is urgent. The Va is only good for Medicine (free), shoes and socks. In those three they excel.
I’m actually not blaming it on Clinton, but I remember news stories in the ‘90’s about how bad it would be if there would be too doctors. As I recall, the feds somehow began paying medical schools to decrease the numbers of medical students.
Remember, also, how many medical schools opened in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s in the Caribbean and Central America because there were not enough openings in US medical schools.
I must not be getting the significance of HR 1058? Is it:
“(b) Establishment Of Clinical Oversight Standards.—The Secretary, in consultation with appropriate stakeholders, shall establish standards to ensure that specialists appointed in the Veterans Health Administration to supervisory positions do not provide direct clinical oversight for purposes of peer review or practice evaluation for providers of other clinical specialties.”.
I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night but I think it shows that right now a foot specialist can be the boss of a neurologist?
it’s stuck in the senate. McCain?
I don't recall such (not saying there weren't...they just happened not to cross in front of my personal eyeballs). But I am experiencing the result of such. My personal physician (whom I have seen for 20 years) is slowly retiring, and the medical group he is part of is having hell replacing him. The US has TOO FEW physicians (hence all the "nurse practitioners and the like that are being used as "band-aids" for the lack).
"Remember, also, how many medical schools opened in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s in the Caribbean and Central America because there were not enough openings in US medical schools.
That one I "do" remember...... :^).
Yes it gives equal pay to specialist. Next time you go to the VA, ask your doc.
Yes it gives equal pay to specialist. Next time you go to the VA, ask your doc.
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