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Thread: Backlog of Veterans' Disability Claims Increases 179% Under Obama

  1. #101
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    Not sure why those with any discharge other than honorable got VA benefits.
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    Cool

    Reducing costs w/ better healthcare for vets...

    VA: Letting Vets Seek Community Healthcare Will Save Billions
    October 24, 2017 - Allowing more veterans to seek medical care outside VA facilities will save taxpayers billions of dollars over the next decade, top VA officials said.
    VA Secretary David Shulkin on Monday said increasing private care options under the proposed Coordinated Access and Rewarding Experiences, or CARE, Act would result in an estimated “billions” of dollars in savings — largely from reduced administrative costs — over a 10-year period. “Under the Veteran Care Act, veterans will have new access to a network of walk-in clinics for occasional needs such as minor illnesses and injuries,” he said. “We’re proposing consolidating Choice and all of VA’s community care programs into a single program.” His comments came during a hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, headed by Rep. Dr. Phil Roe, a Republican from Tennessee.

    How It Could Work

    Shulkin didn’t go into details on the proposed program’s cost or implementation plan, but he did lay out its general framework. Under the CARE Act, the department would allow a veteran to see a non-VA doctor for a number of reasons, including if the department is unable to supply an in-house appointment within a reasonable amount of time, if the veteran has to travel too far to see a doctor or if the nearest VA facility doesn’t meet the “standards of access and quality of care.” The secretary’s testimony didn’t fully outline how the VA would determine whether or not a department facility is meeting standards of access and quality of care. The VA website does have data comparing their medical facilities to civilian healthcare, but the information is somewhat limited.


    Shulkin was also vague on what a veteran will be able to do if unhappy with treatment received at a VA facility. In the civilian world, people can simply go to a different doctor. But the secretary only said treatment would be based on “clinical criteria,” and that the decision to send him or her to a civilian doctor would be made by the veteran and a doctor. Representatives agreed with the Shulkin’s opinion that the new program would most help rural veterans. Under the new program, rural vets would be assigned to a civilian doctor, and wouldn’t have to get VA approval to visit that doctor each time they needed healthcare.

    Care to Replace Choice

    The CARE Act is designed to replace the existing VA Choice program, which is projected to run out of funding by the end of the year. Under the current Choice program, veterans can see a civilian doctor if they cannot get an appointment with the VA within 30 days, or if they must travel more than 40 miles to see a department doctor. Veterans in certain locations, such as Alaska, are also automatically enrolled in Choice regardless of their proximity to the VA hospital.

    Under Choice, the VA makes civilian appointments for eligible veterans, and subsequently takes care of all the payments. But some civilian doctors have complained that the VA takes too long to pay, or doesn’t pay them enough. The VA hasn’t said how the appointment process would work under the proposed CARE program, but they plan on automating the payment process to attract more civilian doctors to the system.

    New Access to Urgent Care

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    Good idea if they can get it right.

    Medicare and Medicaid also underpay doctors.

    Quote Originally Posted by waltky View Post
    Reducing costs w/ better healthcare for vets...

    VA: Letting Vets Seek Community Healthcare Will Save Billions
    October 24, 2017 - Allowing more veterans to seek medical care outside VA facilities will save taxpayers billions of dollars over the next decade, top VA officials said.
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  6. #104
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    Question

    Granny says, "Dat's right - the more things change, the more dey remain the same...

    Will the VA's Transformation End Before it Really Begins?
    3 Nov 2017 | There are rumors in the media that Shulkin interviewed for Tom Price's former Secretary of Health and Human Services role.
    David Shulkin, MD, has been a transformative force within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) during his two-year tenure. But now there are rumors in The Washington Post that he interviewed for Tom Price's former Secretary of Health and Human Services role. Shulkin brings what The New York Times calls a "tireless focus on efficiency" from his private sector career in healthcare management. At the VA, Shulkin has already made waves by setting up online appointment booking for patients, releasing data around patient wait times, and shifting to a surprising electronic health record (EHR) vendor.

    He has developed a reputation for making change happen and cutting through bureaucracy. As undersecretary, when his staff said it would take almost a year to plan an event to discuss veteran suicides, Dr. Shulkin said the delay would cost 6,000 veteran lives and successfully pushed to hold the summit in a month instead. This possible exit comes just as the VA is about to roll out its master plan for ensuring every veteran has access to timely, quality care -- and at a time when the healthcare sector has just started to see the results of what Shulkin's focus on efficiency and technology could deliver.


    Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is seen at the Veterans Affairs Department in Washington.

    The VA is roughly the same size as Kaiser Permanente, but easily lags a decade behind the HMO. Where Kaiser manages a physician-to-patient ratio of 554 to 1 -- one doctor for every 554 patients -- the VA is 55% behind at just 356 to 1. Kaiser transformed this metric over a decade through a focus on better matching of projected patient volumes with provider capacities, telemedicine, use of mid-levels, and smarter physician shift scheduling -- the kinds of transformations Shulkin is known for. If the VA could match Kaiser's physician-to-patient ratio (an initiative which I'm sure Shulkin would be capable of leading), the department would save $1.6 billion a year.

    Those savings could be applied to increase VA physician salaries to Kaiser levels -- currently, the VA pays 21% less to primary care physicians and 55% less to surgeons on average -- which, in turn, would help combat the VA's physician turnover issue, which is 4x higher than at Kaiser. And the VA would still save $427 million a year after these raises. (If this research interests you, there's an 11-page report to download comparing the VA and Kaiser in detail.) Imagine the technology investments Shulkin could make with these millions in savings. He could restore the department's leadership in health technology and deliver the quality care our nation's veterans deserve. Hopefully, he'll stick around to see the dream of an efficient, high-tech VA come to fruition.

    https://www.military.com/daily-news/...ly-begins.html

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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter1469 View Post
    Not sure why those with any discharge other than honorable got VA benefits.
    Because everything is PTSD now even if you never went down-range. Even your bad paper is PTSD. Blow out your knee on a basketball court, it is PTSD. Get yelled at by someone at boot, yep PTSD

  8. #106
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    Unhappy

    Vietnam Vet dies in Michigan VA hospital foulup...

    Michigan Man Who Died Because of VA Error Was Vietnam Vet
    10 Nov 2017 — A man who died because of a stunning error at a Veterans Affairs hospital was a 66-year-old Vietnam War veteran.
    A man who died because of a stunning error at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Michigan was a 66-year-old Vietnam War veteran who liked to throw darts and shoot pool. Roy Griffith confirmed to The Associated Press that his son, William Griffith, was the man who died last December when a nurse at a VA hospital in Ann Arbor mistakenly believed he had a no-resuscitation order. Griffith's death was investigated by the inspector general at the Department of Veterans Affairs. A report released Tuesday called the case "disturbing," although the patient's name wasn't disclosed.


    Griffith was suffering from chest pain and stopped breathing while recovering from artery bypass surgery. No one at the hospital attempted to resuscitate him, and he died the day after Christmas. The elder Griffith declined further comment Thursday. William Griffith's wife, Roberta Griffith, also declined to comment. "We miss him horribly," Griffith's sister, Sara Schuyler, told AP.



    The cover of the crypt that holds the cremated remains of Vietnam War veteran William Griffith is seen at Great Lakes National Cemetery, Nov. 9, 2017, in Holly, Mich.


    Griffith served two years in the Army during the Vietnam War, returning home with injuries in 1971, according to his obituary. He enjoyed darts and billiards. His cremated remains were interred at Great Lakes National Cemetery, a cemetery for veterans in Holly, Michigan, not far from his Oakland County home. "Bill was a likable man who would do anything if you needed him to. He loved his family and will be missed by all who knew him," the obituary said.


    Separately, Reps. Debbie Dingell and Tim Walberg said Thursday they've asked the VA for assurances that a "similar tragedy never happens again." A spokesman for the hospital, Brian Hayes, said changes have been made, including a requirement that two people confirm the status of a patient's resuscitation order. The nurse who made the fatal mistake told investigators that he apparently was confused over Griffith's status that day. Hayes said the nurse could be fired.


    http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...etnam-vet.html

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    Angry

    Colorado VA Kept Secret Wait Lists for Mental Health Care...

    Colorado VA Kept Secret Wait Lists for Mental Health Care: Report
    20 Nov 2017 - A new government watchdog found that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facility in Denver kept improper wait lists.
    A new government watchdog group found that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facility in Denver violated policy by keeping improper wait lists to track mental health care that veterans received. Investigators with the VA Office of Inspector General confirmed whistleblower and former VA employee Brian Smother's claim that staff kept unauthorized lists instead of using the department's official wait list system. That made it impossible to know if veterans who needed referrals for group therapy and other mental health care were getting timely assistance, according to the report. The internal investigation also criticized record-keeping in PTSD cases at the VA's facility in Colorado Springs.

    Patients there often went longer than the department's stated goals of getting an initial consult within a week and treatment within 30 days, investigators found. In one case, a veteran killed himself 13 days after contacting the clinic, which was supposed to see him within a week. Investigators said the unofficial lists did not always identify the veteran or requested date of care, and they could not determine how many veterans were waiting to receive help and for how long, even with the help of staff at the facilities. "My worst fears have been realized in this Inspector General's report that Chairman Johnson and I demanded," Colorado Republican Senator Cory Gardener said in a statement. "It highlights even more VA mismanagement and lack of accountability in Colorado. This cannot happen again, and it's time for the VA to finally wake up and ensure our men and women are getting the best care possible. I will continue to work with Chairman Johnson to ensure the accountability that somehow the VA refuses to accept."


    A June 21, 2013 file photo of the Veterans Affairs Department in Washington.

    Smothers, who worked at the VA in Denver as a peer support specialist on the post-traumatic stress disorder clinical support team, informed Gardner and his fellow senator, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, last about the VA facilities in Denver and nearby Golden using wait lists for mental health services from 2012 until last September. Gardner resigned from his post at the VA shortly after going public, citing retaliation from VA officials in Colorado. "Putting veterans on secret wait lists is not acceptable," Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said in a statement. "The VA should implement changes to provide the highest quality care for our veterans and hold wrongdoers accountable. I thank Brian Smothers, the whistleblower who bravely came forward to shed a light on these unacceptable practices at the VA so they can be prevented in the future."

    Speaking to the Associated Press, Smothers said he was disappointed the report didn't make clearer that VA staff knew full well what they were doing. "We renamed the files 'interest lists' so people wouldn't know we were breaking the rules" on how to maintain wait lists, Smothers said. The VA Eastern Colorado Health Care systemaid in a statement that while it agreed with much of the report's findings it bristled at the idea that its wait lists were "secret." The statement says that "nothing about this process was secret" and that it was discontinued once staff became aware it violated VA policies. The VA Eastern Colorado Health Care system said in a statement that while it agreed with much of the report's findings it bristled at the idea that its wait lists were "secret." The statement says that "nothing about this process was secret" and that it was discontinued once staff became aware it violated VA policies.

    http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...re-report.html

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    Angry

    VA Failed to Report 90% of Poor-Performing Doctors...

    Watchdog: VA Failed to Report 90 Percent of Poor-Performing Doctors
    28 Nov 2017 | WASHINGTON -- The VA fails to report 90 percent of poor-performing doctors to national and state databases, according to findings.
    The Department of Veterans Affairs fails to report 90 percent of poor-performing doctors to national and state databases intended to alert other hospitals of misconduct, according to findings released Monday by the Government Accountability Office. The government watchdog found VA officials were slow to investigate when concerns were raised about the performance of certain doctors. Further, in eight out of nine cases, the VA failed to report doctors who didn't meet health care standards. "Until [the Veterans Health Administration] strengthens its oversight of these processes, veterans may be at increased risk of receiving unsafe care through the VA health care system," the GAO concluded. The findings were based on reviews of 148 instances of complaints against VA medical providers at five hospitals from 2013 to 2017. The concerns ranged from unsafe or inconsistent practices to doctors incorrectly recording patient visits.

    The VA failed to document about half of those cases, the GAO found. For 16 doctors, the VA waited multiple months or years to initiate reviews of complaints. During that time, nine doctors were disciplined by the VA for possible professional incompetence or misconduct, or they resigned to avoid disciplinary action. But the VA didn't report any of them to state licensing boards, and only one was reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank. Those databases are designed to inform other health care facilities about doctors' past performance.


    The front of the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington.

    In one instance, a doctor who resigned from the VA while under investigation was not reported, and later hired to another, non-VA hospital in the same city. Two years later, that hospital disciplined the doctor for the same conduct that prompted the VA investigation, the GAO reported. The GAO is recommending the VA improve oversight of how concerns raised about doctors are reviewed and documented. In response to the watchdog report, VA Deputy Chief of Staff Gina Farrisee wrote the agency agreed with the recommendations and would comply with them by October 2018. "Without documentation and timely reviews of providers' clinical care, [VA] officials may lack information needed to reasonably ensure that providers are competent to provide safe, high quality care to veterans," the GAO report reads.

    The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has recently received complaints from whistleblowers that seem to back up the GAO findings of VA leadership failing to address concerns about doctors, inspectors wrote. A subcommittee of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs is planning to meet Wednesday morning to discuss the report publicly.

    http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...g-doctors.html

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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter1469 View Post
    Not sure why those with any discharge other than honorable got VA benefits.
    I'm with you on that one. You guess standards are all locked in jello these days.

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    Red face

    VA not payin' it's bills to Treasury...

    VA Owes $226 Million to Treasury Department, Inspector General Finds
    29 Nov 2017 | WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs owes $226 million to the Treasury Department, according to an internal watchdog report.
    The Department of Veterans Affairs owes $226 million to the Treasury Department and has no immediate plans to repay it, according to an internal watchdog report released Tuesday. The VA office of inspector general found the agency has not repaid funds taken from the Treasury's Judgment Fund during the past six years to pay settlements from contract disputes on 10 major construction projects. The lack of reimbursement goes against federal regulations and VA policy, inspectors said. "By not reimbursing the Judgment Fund timely, VA has continued to maintain significant liabilities," inspectors wrote. "VA will require significant future funding to satisfy the outstanding claims."

    The Treasury paid to settle 23 claims arising from contract disputes on major VA projects in Maryland, Florida, Colorado, Nevada, California and Pennsylvania. Federal laws require agencies to reimburse the Treasury within 45 days or create a repayment plan in that time. Inspectors found the VA had been delinquent for 221 days on average and the agency had no documented plans to repay the money. Three claims were related to the VA hospital near Denver, which is under construction and experiencing massive cost overruns. Reimbursement for one of those claims is $4.5 million and 411 days past due. Nine claims came from construction of the new VA hospital in Orlando, Florida. Five of those claims are 340 days delinquent.


    The U.S. Treasury Department building in Washington, D.C.

    As older claims go unpaid, new ones are piling on. One claim, for $1.4 million for the Orlando project, was five days delinquent when inspectors began their review. The inspector general's office conducted its review from January to September, following a request from Congress to look into the issue. As of Jan. 31, 2017, the VA had reimbursed the Treasury fund for only $21.4 million of the $247.7 million that it owed, inspectors found, bringing its outstanding balance to $226.3 million. The Treasury does not assess interest on the VA. The VA hasn't been requesting enough money from Congress to pay back the Treasury, the report also stated. From fiscal 2012 to 2017, the VA asked Congress for only $29 million to go toward the reimbursements.

    The inspector general's office is recommending the VA update its policies and ensure it reimburses the Treasury or comes up with a repayment plan within the allotted 45-day window. In a written response to the report, Edward Murray, the VA's acting assistant secretary for management and budget, wrote the VA would establish a repayment plan. According to the report, Murray told inspectors that reimbursing the Treasury wasn't as urgent as other department needs. "Replacing Judgment Funds was considered a lower priority than other requirements that support veterans' access and safety," inspectors wrote.

    http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...ral-finds.html

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