U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs doctors need more flexibility to work with their private sector counterparts, U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Lehigh Valley, said Thursday on a visit to an Allentown outpatient clinic.
Dent, recently named chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, visited VA clinics in Allentown and Wilkes-Barre Thursday to introduce his legislative team to the hospitals’ staffs.
“One thing I’ve noticed is that the directors of [VA hospitals] don’t have enough authority to contract with the private sector,” Dent said.
The congressman said it’s too soon to gauge whether a $16 billion Veterans Affairs overhaul package signed in August by the president will be enough to solve the recently maligned department’s problems, but Dent would like to see more engagement between local hospitals and VA clinics.
Last spring, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned on the heels of a scandal involving a Phoenix VA hospital that reported that veterans were waiting far fewer days for care than they actually were.
Both the Allentown and Wilkes-Barre VA clinics performed well on recent audits, Dent said. Allentown also seems to have a good working relationship with other hospitals in the Lehigh Valley, he said. At the moment, it serves about 10,000 veterans.
Dent said he’d favor moving health care that is not related to a person’s military service to private sector providers.
“I’d have the VA specialized,” he said. “PTSD, prosthetic limbs, agent orange. Veterans deal with all the issues all the same issues as the rest of usMaybe we should farm that out to the private sector.”
Dent asked about the hospital’s behavioral health services in light of recent reports of violence and suicide related to veterans plagued by psychological problems — including post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dr. Jay Kloin, the clinic’s chief medical officer, said his office is well equipped.
“We have been replenished with in my opinion more personnel than ever before for our behavioral health services,” Kloin said. “There has been a push to put money into behavioral health services. I can’t say we’re meeting every need within every time frame. But what I can say is we’re better stocked than ever before.”
