Washington – The Department of Veterans Affairs repeatedly understated wait times for injured veterans seeking medical care and in many serious cases forced them to wait more than 30 days, counter to department policy, an internal investigation shows.
The review by the VA inspector general’s office, released Monday, examined 700 outpatient appointments for primary and specialty care scheduled in October 2006 at 10 VA medical centers.
It found that the Veterans Health Administration in recent months falsely reported to Congress that about 95 percent of its appointments were scheduled within 30 days of a patient’s requested date. In fact, only 75 percent received such timely appointments.
Of the veterans kept waiting more than 30 days, 27 percent of them had more serious service-connected disabilities, such as amputations and chronic problems including frequent panic attacks. Under VHA policy, such veterans must be scheduled for care within 30 days of their desired appointment date.
In addition, despite warnings by the inspector general in 2005 to more accurately report wait times, department officials last year also may have understated the number of veterans on their electronic waiting lists by more than 53,000.
Responding, VA Undersecretary for Health Michael Kussman partly agreed that the agency should take additional steps to improve scheduling with better training, procedures and accounting of records. But he insisted the VA in most cases was doing the best it can and challenged the report’s methodology, citing patient satisfaction surveys showing roughly 85 percent of veterans getting appointments when they needed them.
In April, Kussman told Congress that 95 percent of veterans were receiving the timely appointments.
“To obtain a more objective, professional analysis of all components of VHA’s scheduling process, including electronic wait lists and waiting times reporting, I plan to obtain the services of a contractor who will thoroughly assess the factors,” Kussman wrote in Monday’s report.
The report comes amid intense political and public scrutiny of the VA and Pentagon following reports of shoddy outpatient care of injured troops and veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and elsewhere.
