Despite significant outcries from veterans’ organizations, the general public, and a number of elected officials, the Veterans Administration continues to underperform.
Some issues have received widespread coverage. In June, a Military Times study found that “Wait times for veterans seeking medical appointments at the VA have remained stubbornly stagnant in the past five months, with the number of patients who have waited more than a month to see a doctor topping 505,000, according to newly released data. Of the nearly 6.7 million medical appointments at Veterans Affairs Department facilities nationwide, 92 percent — roughly the same percentage for the past year — were scheduled within a 30-day standard set by Congress in 2014…Although VA has implemented the Veterans Choice program, which allows veterans to see a private physician if they can’t get an appointment at VA in fewer than 30 days, some clinics and medical centers still struggle to provide patients with timely medical care…”
In 2014, The VA’s Inspector General issued a report revealing that officials falsified records about waiting times at the Phoenix center.
The latest issue involves the veterans crisis hotline. According to Rep. David Young (R-Iowa) “In 2014, a number of complaints about missed or unanswered calls, unresponsive staff, as well as inappropriate and delayed responses to veterans in crisis prompted the VA Office of the Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office to conduct an investigation into the Veterans Crisis Line. Both investigations found ‘gaps in the quality assurance process,’ and provided a number of recommendations to address the quality, responsiveness, and performance of the Veterans Crisis Line and the mental health care provided to our veterans. Despite promises by the VA to implement changes to address problems facing veterans who use this Crisis Line these problems are still happening.”
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In response, Rep. Young introduced the “No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act, H.R. 5392,” which requires the VA to create and implement documented plans to improve responsiveness and performance of the crisis line. The legislation requires the VA to develop and implement a quality assurance process to address responsiveness and performance of the Veterans Crisis Line and backup call centers, and a timeline of when objectives will be reached. It also directs the VA to create a plan to ensure any communication to the Veterans Crisis Line or backup call center is answered in a timely manner, by a live person, and document the improvements they make, providing those plans to Congress within 180 days of the enactment of the bill.
The bill has unanimously passed the House, and now resides in the Senate, where a fight is brewing. Republicans have blasted Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for blocking efforts to pass the legislation by a voice vote or unanimous consent before the Senate left Washington on recess until mid-November. Reid, in turn, blames Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) for allowing the Senate to leave on its scheduled break before a deal could be reached.
Getting complete and accurate data from the Veterans Administration has proven to be an ongoing problem, leading the House of Representatives to develop a “VA Honesty Project.” The goal is “to highlight the Department of Veterans Affairs’ lack of transparency with the press and the public about its operations and activities.… Unfortunately, in many cases VA is failing in…[its] responsibility, as department officials – including 54 full-time public affairs employees – routinely ignore media inquiries. VA Honesty Project documents many recent instances in which VA has failed to respond to reporters’ requests for information or refused to answer specific questions. The department’s apparent disregard for the press has become an object of reporters’ scorn, leading some to openly accuse VA of “thumbing their nose at us” and others to write entire articles focusing on VA’s stonewalling tactics.”