Kokomo VA Clinic designed to fail?

Sen. Donnelly asks VA to investigate new Kokomo clinic
Kokomo Tribune
By Carson Gerber
June 19, 2018

U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly is asking Veterans Affairs officials to investigate the new outpatient clinic in Kokomo after local veterans expressed concerns about access to care and problems scheduling appointments.

Donnelly recently sent a letter to VA Northern Indiana Health Care System Director Michael Hershman, whose office runs the Kokomo clinic, asking him to “investigate and address these issues, consistent with U.S. law and agency policy.”

The letter comes after the clinic, which is a first-of-its-kind pilot program established by the VA, came under fire from local veterans during last month’s meeting of the Howard County Military Foundation.

Veterans said the clinic isn’t providing enough services and patients are being discouraged from going there when calling to schedule appointments.

Jimmy Shaw, a guide for UAW Local 685, said during the meeting that veterans in his union have reported the nurse practitioners and clinicians there can’t provide the kinds of services they need.

“We’ve got a lot of irate veterans,” he said. “I’m hearing that the clinic can’t do anything for them once they get in there.”
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