Delays, Lost Paperwork Persist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report
Kaiser Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look At Race, Ethnicity And Health Coverage and Access
Delays, Lost Paperwork Persist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center,
Washington Post Reports
[Sep 17, 2007]
Patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are continuing to encounter problems with lost paperwork and delays in appointments, months after President Bush and Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates promised to make "swift changes" to improve the care that soldiers were receiving at the military facility, the Washington Post reports (Priest/Hull, Washington Post, 9/15). Earlier this year, a Post series detailed poor conditions for people receiving outpatient care at Walter Reed (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/3). After the series was published, the Army "moved swiftly" to fix the outpatient system and established three panels to examine the "entire overburdened military medical care system" for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Post. Despite these efforts, patients and family members continue to complain about the obstacles facing veterans, including a lack of information and explanation of options given with discharge papers, the long disability process, excessive bureaucracy and rotating staff, all resulting in inadequate care, the Post reports.
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