VA Contractor Not Taking New Patients

Gee this sounds really bad but what they don't tell you is that it looks like this is run by a contractor, not the VA really.

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, VISN 09, Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS) - Nashville Campus, Network Contracting Office 9 (NCO 9).

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed: Under the authority of Public Law 104-262, and Title 38 U.S.C. 8153, the Contractor shall provide continuous delivery of Contractor operated primary care services, including primary care mental health and preventive medical care services in accordance with the terms, conditions, and provisions stated herein, and to furnish services to eligible veteran beneficiaries enrolled with the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (hereafter called TVHS). The contract will be structured as a firm-fixed-price (FFP) Per Member Per Month (PMPM) Capitated Rate Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) using Interim Contract Authority (ICA) in accordance with VA Directive 1663 for a period not to exceed 180-days or 360-days if an exception is granted.

This interim contract authority is necessary to ensure minimum disruption of primary health care (PHC) services for eligible veterans as the sole-source with a Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) proceeds through the Medical Sharing Office (MSO) Contract Review Team (CRT) process for contract community-based outreach clinics

And that is the problem with most of the reporting being done. It took me 2 minutes to find that one. It has been going on for a very long time and not just in Nashville, but all over the country. The other problem is that when politicians decide to send men and women to war, they should plan for the survivors coming back. They didn't.

More Veterans Sent To Rural VA Clinics After Clarksville Stops Accepting New Patients
Nashville Public Radio
By EMILY SINER
November 16, 2015

The Stewart County Veterans Affairs Clinic is about 40 miles away

from the clinic in Clarksville, which isn't accepting new patients.

EMILY SINER / WPLN

The Veterans Affairs health care clinic in Clarksville has closed its doors to new patients, citing space constraints. Some veterans say this is putting more of a strain on other clinics in nearby rural counties.

George Gordon goes to a primary care doctor at the Stewart County VA Clinic, a small brick building in Dover, Tenn., about 40 miles west of Clarksville. Gordon says he hasn't had good experiences there.

“The service in the Dover clinic — I’ve just been treated badly," he says. He had to wait too long for an appointment, his doctor was unfriendly, the clinic never gave him results from a recent blood test.

More than a year ago, Gordon requested to switch to a doctor in Clarksville. He's still waiting, he says.
read more here