57K vets wait for appointments
By Kristina Wong – 06/09/14 12:24 PM EDT
More than 57,000 veterans are awaiting initial appointments at Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics around the country 90 days after requesting them, according to the Associated Press.
The AP’s story was based on an audit of facilities ordered by the White House that is expected to be released on Monday.
The results show patients are waiting much longer than the 14 days that the agency has said was its target for scheduling an appointment.
An additional 64,000 who enrolled in the VA health care system over the past 10 years have never had appointments, the AP reported.
The audit covered 731 VA hospitals and large outpatient clinics, and found that the agency’s scheduling practices concealed long wait times and created “confusion among scheduling clerks and supervisors.”
The audit also says a 14-day goal for seeing first-time patients was unattainable given the growing demand among veterans for health care and poor planning, and that 13 percent of VA schedulers reported supervisors telling them to falsify appointment dates to make waiting times appear shorter.
A partial audit, released May 30, had found widespread tampering with appointments at 64 percent of VA facilities, and prompted the resignation of former Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.
The initial audit found evidence that Veterans Affairs employees hid evidence of longer waits by veterans for healthcare.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/208658-57000-vets-waiting-for-appointment#ixzz34A65iUqo
