Shocking New VA Scandal Uncovered by VAWatchDog

Like most Vietnam vets, after years of no help at all, they have to go to see their VA doctors on a regular basis to stay stabilized yet when they need to be sure they have a stable support force behind them, they are told their appointments need to be cut back. Just too many new veterans flooding the system to have time for all of them. So they are given medication enough to last about three months until they can find the time to see them again. It's not the doctors fault they don't have enough of them to fill the needs but it is however the fault of the people in charge to properly plan and staff based on the needs of the future.

It is not just mental health that is an issue for disabled veterans. They get sent to another part of their state or to a different state to receive the medical care they need. Appointments are canceled or changed without notice and for those seen on a regular basis, they are spread out too far in between.

The VA has to meet "standards" of care and apparently thanks to Jim Strickland reporting, we now know they found a way to make it look as if they have met the standard by hiding the facts. What they cannot hide is the damage they are doing to the veterans feeling betrayed yet again. For Vietnam veterans with PTSD, they overcame the stigma and lost years but can they overcome this?

VCS Salutes VA Watch Dog;
VCS Urges Congress to Fix VA

Shocking New VA Scandal Uncovered by VAWatchDog - -

VA Staff Manipulate Appointment System, Delay Care

This week, the web site VAWatchDog.org posted an internal VA memo where a top VA leader confirmed the existence of 24 ways to "game" VA's appointment computer system. VA's staff manipulate the computer system to conceal delays in setting medical appointments. Veterans are justifiably outraged.

Deputy Under Secretary for Health William Schoenhard's memo confirms a key point VCS and VA's Inspector General have made for years: VA intentionally misleads veterans and Congress about how VA routinely delays and denies medical care for our veterans. VA leaders now know VA's medical appointment system is broken. We are pleased VA's Schoenhard said the improper practices will not be tolerated.

Schoenhard's memo forces a key leadership test upon VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. Will VA reveal how many veterans over the years were harmed by VA's improper practices? What other ways are used to hide VA's problems scheduling appointments? Will VA re-train staff on the proper use of the appointment system? Will VA leaders hold accountable those VA employees and leaders who delay and deny medical care? We want more facts, more training, and more accountability.

VA DOCUMENT REVEALS HOW THE AGENCY IS "GAMING" VETERANS' MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS
Lists 24 ways that VA employees are "gaming" the dates on medical appointments to make themselves look more efficient while veterans wait for health care.



NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... I have been writing about the waiting list issue since 2004, and VA employees have only gotten better at "gaming" the figures to make it look like they are meeting appointment schedules ... when in reality, veterans are waiting for health care.

I detailed the use of log books for waiting lists before veterans could get on the electronic waiting list. That way, the original date requesting an appointment was not entered into the system. VA employees would wait until an appointment opened up (within 30 days) and then take the vet out of the log book and put them into the system, using that date as the date of request. This made it look like the VA had fulfilled their 30-day appointment commitment to the veteran.





The Games People Play
by Jim Strickland
Has it ever happened to you? Have you shown up for an appointment at your VA Clinic or Medical Center only to be told that you don't have an appointment? Tried to make a convenient appointment 2 months away and were told that the rules don't allow that? Is your appointment scheduled in an old fashioned log book rather than the computerized system VA uses? These are the games that are played with your appointment schedule.

The VA says that it takes pride in your care. The truth be known, VA takes even more pride in keeping score so that everyone looks good on paper. Thus, the system that keeps track of the performance of clinics and hospitals is "gamed" in ways that seem to annoy Mr. Schoenhard. "These (gaming) practices will not be tolerated." he tells his troops, "This is not patient centered care."

read the rest here
http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjun10/nf062310-1-1.htm