Secret waiting lists to cover up long wait times have been at the center of controversy at the national health care system for veterans. Part of the national efforts to reduce wait times include making it easier for veterans to receive medical care from other health care providers that are not part of that system. It has allowed San Joaquin County officials to enter into a two-year agreement that would open up San Joaquin General to veterans who see doctors in the regional system, which includes hospitals in Livermore and Palo Alto, as well as clinics in French Camp, outside Stockton.
County officials said they are not expecting a rush of new patients from referrals from the VA that are allowed through the agreement. And the agreement has not blunted calls from local officials and veterans pushing for federal funding to build an expanded outpatient clinic and nursing home for veterans in San Joaquin County.
San Joaquin General could see its first new patient through the agreement as early as this month, hospital CEO David Culberson said. The agreement is a first, he said. Were very pleased and very excited, he said. If the volume is small or if it is large, were here for the veterans. The agreement opens up in-patient and out-patient services, therapies and the hospital’s dialysis machines, he said.
It could save some local veterans some of the long trips needed to get to appointments over often-packed roads to Livermore or Palo Alto.
The agreement is through the VAs Patient-Centered Community Care Contracts program, which allows VA medical centers to pay for health care from a network of providers. When the VA announced the program would extend to primary care, the newly confirmed VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald said in a statement: VA Medical Centers can now use (the program) to provide additional types of care in order to reduce wait times This modification is another example of how we are working to ensure veterans get the care they need, when they need it and where they want to be seen.
The reimbursement rates for the hospital to be part of a network through a VA contractor are at a competitive rate, county officials said. The county has also been negotiations to strike a similar deal to provide mental health care for veterans. But so far, the reimbursement rates being offered fall well below the cost for the county to provide the care, Heath Care Services Director Ken Cohen said.
Behavioral Health Services is the largest mental health care provider in the county, and an agreement would allow it to add its resources to what the VA already is offering, he said. And the county is already providing care to those same veterans, he said. We see many of those veterans after hours or on weekends, in crisis.
The county wants to skip the contractor and make a deal directly with the VA. Its something Chairman Bob Elliott brought up to VA Secretary McDonald, who met with Elliott and others on a visit to the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.
But Elliott said he was glad the agreement opening up San Joaquin General to provide medical care is now in place. I think it could well improve the access to services to veterans in a timely manner.
Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or zjohnson@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/johnsonblog and on Twitter @zacharykjohnson.
