Choice Providers "know little about the military or veterans"

Study: Private sector may not be ready for new veteran patients
Military Times
Leo Shane
March 2, 2018

Only about one in three providers met the study’s “minimum threshold for familiarity with military culture,” and only one in five routinely asked patients if they had a military background.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers appear poised to send tens of thousands of veterans in the private sector for health care in an effort to provide quicker, more convenient appointments for an array of medical needs.

But a new study casts doubt on whether private care providers can do that.

Researchers from the Rand Corp. on Thursday released a new study of New York state medical providers that noted the majority of physicians working outside Veterans Affairs programs “know little about the military or veterans, are not routinely screening for conditions common among veterans, and are unfamiliar with VA.”

Though restricted to one state, the findings echo concerns among critics of the White House push to send more veterans outside the VA’s medical system to receive care: that easing access for veterans appointments may bring with it a host of other, unintended problems.

House and Senate lawmakers are currently crafting separate but similar measures which would ease access for veterans to receive health care from doctors in their communities at the federal government’s expense.
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