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A Simple Fix for the VA

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The VA system is still chugging along, “pretending to provide care, quality managers pretending to review such care, and supervisors harassing the providers about the care provided elsewhere. Meanwhile, veterans wait and wait to get care they need,” writes Dr. Nasser Gayed in the WSJ

Read here from Dr. Gayed, recently retired after 25 years as a VA physician, his simple fix to reduce waiting lists, perhaps by a third or more, for Veterans wanting to see VA physicians.

Gayed writes:

Many veterans are rightfully irritated and confused at the constant back and forth between their private and VA health-care providers. They may have difficulty getting to VA facilities because of the distances involved, their health conditions, or both. I’ve watched disabled veterans struggle for 10 or 15 minutes to get out of their car or van to the waiting room. They have difficulties getting to any health-care provider, but an additional visit to a VA facility is unnecessary. All this so the VA physician can pretend to provide actual care.

There is another drawback to having to see two doctors. The VA employs hundreds of quality-assurance managers who review the care provided to all enrolled veterans. They collect data and offer feedback to physicians (recommending changes or even disciplinary action) about the care they give. But a VA physician has little or no control over the care of veterans who see private doctors.

VA physicians can refuse to prescribe medication if they disagree with a veteran’s private doctor, but it is rare that they will contradict prior treatment recommendations. Doing so might shake a veteran’s confidence in the care he is getting. That is detrimental to a patient’s health.

So the VA system keeps chugging along, with providers pretending to provide care, quality managers pretending to review such care, and supervisors harassing the providers about the care provided elsewhere. Meanwhile, veterans wait and wait to get care they need.

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Debbie Young

Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, driving her Porsche Boxter S through Vermont and Maine, and practicing yoga.