Have you seen what he did to the medical system in MA. Healthcare is not the arena for Bain capital types.
My son works for a healthcare conglomerate and upper management just decided the best way to improve the bottom line was to insist that the pharmacy have no more stock on hand than the amount anticipated to be consumed in 5 days. I said, “That’s insane, there are strikes, manufacturing shutdowns due to equipment failures or component shortages, trucking hold ups, and a host of other potential problems. You need a cushion of several weeks. The patients are often critically ill and there will be deaths if their meds are not available.”
He said, “But they can save $ on the float.” I said, “Yes and they will lose it on the law suits.”
The person who turns around the VA doesn’t need to be a Bain-like figure but rather someone who understands how bureaucracy works and who is dedicated to putting the patient’s first and streamlining the process, a person with some vision and real grit.
I would favor a revamping and change of emphasis, rerouting the routine care to private hospitals where good facilities exist, maintaining that care in under-served parts of the country where the VA hospital is an efficient part of the community and expanding the specialized trauma related care.
I agree. The bulk of VA care should be given by private providers who the Veterans choose. Even Mayo or John Hopkins are not as expensive as the VA with their bureaucracy. The VA needs to be very small ageny within the DOD that manages payments to private providers for vets.