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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Company Overcharged VA $89 Million From 28 States

Reminder:Congress has had control over how our veterans are treated, or mistreated, since 1946. Ask them why they never fixed it instead of doing this to our veterans! BTW, veterans pre-paid for their healthcare the day they joined the military!

Arizona-based VA contractor collected 'tens of millions' in over payments, federal audit says
The Republic
Dennis Wagner
November 13, 2017

"Veterans Choice, which has already cost taxpayers more than $12 billion, was created as an emergency stopgap to serve patients who were waiting weeks or months to see doctors in a backlogged VA healthcare system."

A Phoenix-based company that oversees about half of the private medical care for America's veterans is looking to extend its contract even as documents reveal it overbilled the government by tens of millions of dollars.

In addition: It's the target of a federal grand jury investigation.

The company, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, has multi-billion-dollar contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs to administer private health-care appointments for ex-military personnel in Arizona and 27 other states.

The VA Office of Inspector General recently reported to Congress that TriWest and another company, Health Net Federal Services — which oversees private VA care for the remainder of the nation — collected at least $89 million more than they should have, sometimes by billing the government at improper rates or collecting twice for the same treatment.

That, lawmakers allege, means money that could have been spent on veterans' health care was instead taken by the two companies.
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You Could Be in the Hands of Contractors and Not Know It

Reminder, if you still want to blame the VA employees for all that is wrong, but the press usually won't tell you, here is something from Peter Biello a reporter in New Hampshire "VA Hospitals Step in as Federal Program Hits Growing Pains"

The federal government hires a third-party contractor to do some of that appointing now. Health Net is who that company is now, though I think that could change. Is it fair to the Manchester VA have employees do some of this work, especially since Health Net is in theory supposed to be doing it already?

Manchester VA Assistant Director Kevin Forest answered,

"We already do a lot of that work. Choice isn’t the only program we use to provide care to veterans in the community. We coordinate care for veterans who receive care at other VAs, we coordinate care for veterans who receive care out in the local area hospitals, and we work closely with Health Net now to make sure veterans receive appointments through their provider network."

Then again, if you think any of this is new, would be good for reporters to also remind you that veterans have had to fight the government since they started fighting for the government. 

On June 17, 1783, Congress received a message from soldiers of the Continental Army stationed in Philadelphia, which demanded payment for their service during the American Revolutionary War. The soldiers threatened to take action that day if their complaints were not addressed. Congress ignored their message, but the soldiers did not act on their threat. Two days later, however, the Congress received word that a group of about 80 soldiers had left their post at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of Philadelphia, and had joined with the soldiers stationed at the city barracks. The group of approximately 500 men had effective control over the weapons stores and munition depot.^[2]