WASHINGTON Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Neb., said Wednesday that hes encouraged about the future of veterans health care services in Omaha after talking with the man in charge Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald.
McDonald met with a few House members from United Solutions, a bipartisan group of moderate lawmakers that was formed in the last Congress. Ashford has joined the group.
Ashford described McDonald as open even offering his cellphone number and ready to get down to business on everything from delays in claims processing to deteriorating physical facilities.
McDonald told Ashford that he was familiar with Omahas aging VA hospital. He also said that hes happy to explore different approaches, such as a lease-build option.
Conceptually, theyre willing to do that kind of project, Ashford said. Theyre very interested in talking about these sort of private-public, creative ways of moving forward.
Ashford said the secretary also indicated that hes open to developing facilities such as clinics to help meet veterans needs. Ashford has talked about building an ambulatory care clinic in Omaha.
Its a place where people can go without having to be inpatient, Ashford said. And it can be mental health, it can include family therapy, all that stuff.
Congress previously approved money to replace the Omaha hospital, but momentum stalled as cost overruns on construction projects elsewhere have eaten up existing resources.
Based on his conversations with officials, Ashford said it is unlikely that the VA would pursue one proposal that had been floated for Omaha moving the VA operation into the Creighton University Medical Center after it closes in 2017.
And a new hospital isnt coming along anytime soon.
He said, We just arent going to start from scratch and build new hospitals, Ashford said.
But he said the secretarys attitude gives him reason to be optimistic that solutions can be found. Theres a new dawn, Ashford said.
