A program popular among Montana veterans that allows them to get medical care closer to home has been reauthorized by Congress through August 2016.
The VA launched Project ARCH, or Access Received Closer to Home, in 2011 to address some of the health care challenges facing rural veterans. ARCH has been implemented in five states Kansas, Virginia, Arizona, Maine and Montana in Billings and Anaconda.
Project ARCH allows eligible veterans to receive care outside the VA system, including through private providers, at a designated facility. The goal is to provide veterans convenience without sacrificing high-quality care.
In Montana, long distances separate many veterans from the health care they earned, said U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, Montanas only member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. In my listening sessions across the state, veterans told me how important it is to be able to see a doctor without driving hundreds of miles. Project ARCH helps bring critically important care closer to home.
More than 90 percent of primary care appointments occurred within 14 days of the request, according to data Testers office released.
Tester co-sponsored legislation to re-authorize ARCH and supported funding ARCH at $35 million in the fiscal year 2015 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act.
The VA reform bill also created the Veterans Choice Card to allow veterans that live more than 40 miles away from a VA facility or are unable to schedule an appointment within the wait-time goals of the Veterans Health Administration to get private care.
Montana VA Chief of Staff Dr. Trena Bonde told veterans gathered at a recent town hall meeting in Billings that the new Veterans Choice program will let patients facing long waits seek care outside the VA.
Under Veterans Choice, patients waiting more than 30 days will be authorized to seek care from private providers.
Both Project ARCH and the Veterans Choice program are designed to reduce the time veterans are waiting to receive medical attention.
A Veterans Affairs analysis shows that new patients are waiting 69 days, on average, for their first appointment with a primary care doctor at the agencys medical center at Fort Harrison. Thats up from 48 days reported in June in a national audit that followed reports of long wait times and falsified records at the Phoenix VA.
Montana VA officials have said they hope to cut wait times down to 30 or fewer days. VA facilities in Havre, Lewistown, Miles City, Kalispell, Missoula and Anaconda also had wait times in excess of a month for new patients, according to the VA data dated Nov. 5.
Johnny Ginnity, acting director of the VA Montana Health Care System, said he questions the data and has asked for clarification. Meantime, hes working to improve wait times.
In addition to Project ARCH and the Veterans Choice program, Ginnity said VA Montana is making changes that include retraining schedulers, updating software and hiring more than 150 clinical and support staff members in recent months. It has also doubled staff in the consulting department. Two patient advocates will be hired one in Billings and a second one at Fort Harrison.
