VA: SAME-DAY CARE PROMISED NATIONWIDE!

Seeking to end years of scandal over patient treatment delays, the Department of Veterans Affairs is working to offer its patients same-day care at each of its medical centers by year's end.

The goal is part of a nine-point list of initiatives announced Friday, which is being implemented at clinics and hospitals across the nation to better care for veterans in the embattled health system.

Already, 34 facilities offer that same-day primary and mental health care. Colorado Springs is not on that list, though the capability is expected to expand, said Dr. David Shulkin, the VA's undersecretary for health, during a conference for health care journalists in Cleveland.

"This is not only possible - we're doing it today," Shulkin said. "What we need to do is to consistently do it across our 168 member centers."

The VA also plans to roll out an app across the nation that allows patients to schedule their own appointments. And the health care system is implementing a new, easier-to-use scheduling system for its staff, Shulkin said.

The initiative, called a "declaration of access" comes as the agency continues to face withering criticism over the falsification of appointment records across the nation - including at Colorado Springs' clinic at Centennial Boulevard and Fillmore Street.

A recent report by the agency's inspector general found 11.5 percent of veteran appointments for care in Colorado Springs were delayed by 30 days or more. The figure is nearly four times the national rate, and it's up 7 percent from before the new 76,000-square-foot clinic first opened.

The report also found that local clinic workers delayed adding scores of veterans to a list for the "Veterans Choice" program, which would have allowed them to seek private care. It impacted 229 of 450 cases reviewed, the report said.

The new goals are meant to help the VA move past those issues, Shulkin said.

"That is not what we believe represents the current VA today," said Shulkin, of treatment delays that first gained notoriety two years ago. "We've now moved beyond that, reaffirmed our values and making sure we're putting systems in place that work for veterans."

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Senate Acts to Help C-123 Exposure Claims

Thanks to Senator Merkley and his staff, the Senate Appropriations Committee has gotten involved in the C-123 Agent Orange exposure business, and has a clause dealing with us as part of the military construction, VA and related agencies appropriation bill.

This bill may or not be voted upon during the week of June 7-12 but considerable confusion exists about potential filibuster delays.

            COMMITTEE REPORTS

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS
Senate Report 114-57 - To accompany H.R. 2029
May 21, 2015

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATION BILL, 2016

C-123 Planes and Possible Exposure to Dioxin.—The Committee is aware of the Institute of Medicine» [IOM] study of exposure to herbicide by servicemembers who served on Fairchild UC-123 “Provider” (C-123) aircraft post-Vietnam war. The report, commissioned by VA, states with confidence these servicemembers were exposed to potentially dangerous levels of dioxin. Given IOM’s recent finding, the Department is directed to report to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress within 14 days of enactment of this act on plans to provide appropriate care and benefits to servicemembers who flew or worked on C-123 planes that carried and sprayed Agent Orange and to revisit past and existing related claims previously denied.