By ,
Published May 03, 2016
The Department of Veterans Affairs has made some improvements in serving veterans through the Veterans Choice Program but still has work to do, Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander John W. Stroud said on Monday.
Stroud's comment was included with the release of the VFW's latest survey on the choice program, which found that veteran awareness of the program is growing.
VFW Senior Legislative Associate Carlos Fuentes said the number of veterans eligible for the program grew after the VA modified how it determines the required 40-mile distance between a veteran's residence and a VA facility.
Originally, it was measured "as the crow flies" – a straight line that did not take into consideration how far a veteran actually would have to drive to reach a VA facility. These "40-milers" in remote or rural areas may have to drive a greater distance to reach a facility that, on a map, is much closer.
That change, expected to make an additional 300,000 veterans eligible for the Choice Program, was announced on March 24 and went into effect on April 24. The latest survey covered the period Feb. 6 to April 6.
"I think it would be higher now because a lot of the 40-miler folks who thought they were not eligible [because of the earlier rule] would be now," Fuentes said.
The survey findings are based on 2,155 responses to a VFW survey of members as well as an apportionment of more than 5,000 direct phone and e-mail contacts with VFW national offices.
Fuentes said the VA did not have a great deal of time to implement the program, and also has been making changes along the way. That means training and then retraining its personnel.
"VA has been required to make adjustments as they go – driving the train while fixing it," he told Military.com. "Overall, we feel that VA leadership is committed to fixing the problems. VA must continue to identify challenges and address them in a timely manner. However, a problem that was caused by years of chronic underfunding and mismanagement will not be fixed in seven months."
Among the problem areas that must still be addressed is how the VA calculates wait times for veterans to be eligible for the program, Stroud said in the survey report.
Now, a veteran must be on a wait list at least 30 days beyond when an appointment is deemed clinically necessary before being considered eligible for the Veterans Choice Program, according to Stroud.
That standard does not line up with reality, he said.
"If a doctor says a veteran needs to receive an MRI within a week to evaluate the veteran's chest pain, then that veteran must receive an MRI within a week, regardless of whether the care is received through a VA medical facility or through the Veterans Choice Program," he said.
For example, 45 percent of the 877 survey participants who tried to get an appointment after Choice went into effect on Nov. 5, 2014, reported waiting more than 30 days for an appointment. The figure was lower in the VFW's first survey, released March 3, when 35 percent of 746 veterans surveyed waited longer than 30 days.
The organization also found that many veterans still report dealing with VA customer service representatives who are unable to clearly explain the program. VA has to improve communications with veterans, the VFW said.
"VA must provide frontline personnel standardized training and implement quality assurance mechanisms to ensure its medical facilities adhere to training objectives, system wide directives, and clinical practice guidelines," it said.
The organization also recommends:
-- Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@military.com
https://www.foxnews.com/us/vfw-says-va-choice-program-shows-improvement-but-more-work-needed