KUSA – Thomas Amabile will have cataract surgery Tuesday after a yearlong ordeal with the Denver VA Hospital, which highlights ongoing lapses in patient scheduling.
9Wants to Know obtained Amabile’s medical records from the Department of Veterans Affairs.The records show Amabile called on New Year’s Eve 2013, asking for a referral to an eye specialist. A few days earlier, he visited a LensCrafters to get new glasses and was told his cataracts had gotten worse, significantly hindering his vision. The optometrist noted, “medically necessary surgery recommended”.
“It’s blurry,” said Amabile, describing his vision. ” It’s cloudy. It’s not a clear picture.”
For a reason undisclosed by the VA, it took more than eight months for Amabile to get his appointment with the VA’s ophthalmology specialist. After that consultation in August, the doctor originally scheduled the surgery in September. However, that surgery was canceled due to problems with sterilizing equipment in Denver VA’s operating rooms.
“I asked them, when are you going to reschedule it?” Amabile said. “They said, ‘We’ll let you know.’ They didn’t let me know.”
After six weeks, Amabile was tired of waiting. He called 9Wants to Know for help in early November. After we contacted the VA inquiring about Amabile’s case, he received a call to schedule the cataract surgery for December 16.
“It’s not major surgery, but it’s important surgery,” Amabile said.
According to the most recently released wait time statistics for the Denver VA system, average wait times are nine days from the requested date for primary care appointments, 12 days for specialist appointments and 14 for mental health appointments. This includes data for both new and existing patients. Those timeframes are significantly higher than the national averages.
The Denver VA has seen a significant decrease in the number of patients on the Electronic Wait List, also known as EWL, since August. However, the percentage of patients who have to wait more than 30 days for an appointment hovers just above 13 percent, more than double the national average.
A VA spokeswoman refused to comment specifically on Amabile’s concerns about the lengthy wait for his surgery, saying it wasn’t in this veteran’s “best interest to talk about his medical conditions for all to hear and see.” The refusal came even after Amabile gave written permission, waiving his patient privacy rights, so the VA could discuss the eye surgery with 9Wants to Know.
The VA did offer a written statement:
“The Denver VA Medical Center’s number one priority is quality and safety when it comes to our Veterans’ care. At times our high standards lead to process reviews and delays if we feel our Veterans’ care could be compromised in any way. The incident concerning our Operating Rooms temporary shutdown over the summer was unfortunate, but necessary to ensure our high standards. It was a short setback that was quickly rectified and those Veterans that had to be rescheduled were. Urgent cases were sent into the community for immediate care.
Scheduling delays, or a need to reschedule a Veteran happen for a variety of reasons, but rest assured the Veteran’s health and well-being is always the driving force behind every medical decision. Furthermore, with the passing of the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014, Veterans who cannot be seen within 30 days of the date VA deems medically necessary, have the option to be seen by a provider in the community.”
9Wants to Know investigator Melissa Blasius has covered dozens of stories on the Department of Veterans Affairs. You can email her directly at melissa.blasius@9news.com
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