Senator says veterans should be able to seek other care

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt said Thursday he hopes to receive more detailed information about Missouri veterans whose treatments have been delayed at least 90 days at several Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics statewide.

The goal of the VA is to lower wait times to 14 days for each patient. As failure to meet that goal continues, Blunt said offering veterans more health-care options may be the answer.

"All these hospitals could be better," he said. "Competition for veterans would be a good thing."

A letter the Missouri senator received this week from the VA Heartland Network said the Poplar Bluff VA facility has 14 patients who have waited more than three months for service, St. Louis has 26, Columbia has 19 and Kansas City has 12. The network includes nine hospitals, one health-care center and 51 community-based outpatient clinics in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas and Indiana.

Blunt said one proposal in the Senate would allow veterans who live 40 miles from a VA facility or have waited more than 14 days for an appointment to access any facility that is Medicare-qualified and will accept veterans at the Medicare rate.

"My guess is, if people have alternatives, the veterans' association is going to start meeting their 14-day goal for a couple of reasons," he said. "One is they suddenly are in competition with other providers, and two is other providers are there to relieve some of that load."

He also pointed out that careful discussion was necessary about acceptable wait times. Veterans suffering severe physical problems, such as a heart attack, or who may be suicidal should be able to receive instant care.

While the VA system is dealing with many problems, Blunt said funding is not one of them.

"The veterans' administration has had more money for the last five fiscal years than they can spend," he said. "They've turned back money every year for five years. The last thing the government needs to do at this moment is think we're going to solve this problem by throwing a bunch of money at the problem."

The solution lies in finding a way to change the system, Blunt added. The goal is not what's best for the VA, but what's best for the veterans, he said.

Blunt and Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill sent a letter to former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki before his resignation last week, regarding allegations about the delays and inefficiencies in care at a St. Louis facility. Blunt said they have received no response to the letter and that Shinseki's resignation likely slowed receiving answers.

"This information should not be hard to come by," he said. "Their excuse now would probably be, 'We've got all these leadership changes going on in the organization.'"

The senator also is working to discover whether any facilities keep secret, unauthorized waiting lists. The letter Blunt received from the VA Heartland Network says directors of medical centers within the network reported 10 unauthorized lists.

"Eight of these lists served to complement authorized lists to more fully support Veteran care and access. ... The other two lists placed Veterans at risk," the letter says.

It also says staff using the eight complementary lists were educated about "more appropriate techniques," while the medical centers using the lists that put veterans at risk were reported and are being investigated.

The letter did not provide names of any of the facilities using unauthorized lists. Blunt confirmed later Thursday the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center was among the facilities with an unauthorized list that put veteran patients at risk. The other facility was in Wichita, Kansas.

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

Poplar Bluff, Mo.