It’s about nine months since those secret waiting lists were exposed at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA admits as many as 40 veterans died waiting for care. Since then, Congress passed a major overhaul of the agency, intended to improve care. Some of those changes being felt right here in the Tri-State. There is still a wait, though. The VA facilities in Evansville and Owensboro report 46 veterans are currently waiting more than 90 days to see a doctor.
They sacrifice. Exhibit patience. But after three months of waiting, Rick Gaskill’s patience is wearing thin.
“That choice program, where it’s supposed to help veterans, that’s just been a hindrance to me where they don’t give you the right information,” says Gaskill.
The Vietnam veteran suffers mini seizures. He can’t drive until a neurologist prescribes medication.
“You don’t feel it coming on, you have no warning, it’s like you’re in a trance for just a few seconds,” he says.
Gaskill hoped the Choice Care Program would get him in to see a doctor sooner. It’s one of several initiatives included in a law Congress passed last year that overhauls the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
It connects vets with participating private physicians, if there’s not a VA facility within 40 miles or a VA doctor can’t see them within 30 days. But the neurologist assigned to Gaskill, 70 miles from his home in Hartford, Kentucky in Elizabethtown.
“It’s ridiculous,” he says.
Gaskill says under Choice Care, his VA benefits aren’t accepted because he has Medicare, meaning more out-of-pocket costs. The former Marine’s frustrations only continue to grow.
“They called me and said I have an appointment in two days in Owensboro. I said great and they gave me the name of the doctor and I didn’t recognize it so I called and he’s not a neurologist, he’s a psychiatrist, the people aren’t doing their jobs. The federal still pretty frustrating,” says Gaskill.
The 16-billion dollar VA overhaul also funds hiring thousands of doctors and health care workers. Evansville’s VA facility added 13 positions including a physician and five nurses. One part-time physician started in Owensboro. And at the region’s headquarters in Marion, Illinois, 40 positions were created, including two physicians and a handful of mental health professionals.
“When you’re scheduling your appointments, it’s not taking four months to get your appointment anymore. You’re getting your appointment fairly quickly now. What’s fairly quickly? 2-3 weeks at the most,” says Paul Glover.
The Army veteran did three tours in Kuwait. He says his body took a beating working the M1A1 tanker truck and has needed a series of surgeries. Between that and leading VFW Post 1114, he’s familiar with the VA’S services.
“They’re doing the best they can, they’re making it more receptive. To get the veteran in there as quickly as they can,” says Glover.
But veterans are still waiting. Since those excessive waiting lists were first exposed, the VA reports the average wait: 27 days to see a doctor in Evansville. It’s 15 in Owensboro.
“The average in itself, probably a bit misleading, those numbers can change based on clinical need, medical judgment, sometimes it can be affected by patient choice when they get seen and all that. The number in itself a great indicator to point to say yes, let’s look into this. But the number in itself doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing,” says Marion VA medical center director Donald Hutson.
Hutson says established patients could be seen in a matter of days. New ones take longer. He says the creation of a master scheduler position will help streamline the process in making appointments.
“If you have multiple people from their perspective telling a person saying this is a priority, this is a priority, well when you have so many priorities, what becomes the priority and so there was so tremendous gains to have by reducing the variability by just funneling things through one person,” says Hutson.
That overhaul law also calls for VA employees to be held more accountable. Over the last year, the VA reports taking disciplinary action against 56-hundred employees for providing poor care. So what about locally?
“I have not found any instances of any of our staff any type of malicious behavior. I believe they are working very hard on behalf of the veterans. Some of our systems such our information systems, scheduling software, a bit outdated, which has been acknowledged by the secretary of the VA that those things need to be updated. And I found our people are interacting with the veterans in a very respectful, compassionate manner,” says Hutson.
Director Hutson says he regularly visits the clinics he oversees, especially to check up on expanding services. In Evansville, the VA health care center recently started offering same-day surgeries and endoscopies. It opened an infusion center to help arthritis sufferers. And will soon start administering chemotherapy, a treatment that previously required veterans to travel to Marion.
While this will certainly be more convenient for some veterans, others like Rick Gaskill still find themselves waiting for care.
