April 09, 2015

House Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Brown Emphasizes Improvements Being Made by Department of Veterans’ Affairs with Respect to Patient Wait Times

Washington D.C.- Congresswoman Corrine Brown made the following statement:

“Just last November I met with the leadership of the Jacksonville Outpatient Clinic to learn about the details behind the recent reports regarding the wait times for new patients. Presently, I am pleased to report that the Jacksonville clinic has responded to the tremendous increase in VA patients by hiring more doctors, authorizing leases for additional space for the Jacksonville clinic, and expanding its hours of operation.   

Nationally, we see this same movement by VA facilities towards hiring more doctors and expanding their operation hours.  Indeed, with the numerous challenges the VA is undertaking, it is well known that the issue of wait times will not be solved overnight.  In fact, this issue is even more challenging at the present time, when the number of military personnel deployed to combat zones decreases and the armed services drawdown.  Certainly, in the very near future there will continue to be increases in the number of veterans seeking treatment through the VA precisely because of the drawdown, and it is well known that veterans prefer to receive their care directly from VA operated facilities instead of going outside the system.

Additionally, the agency of Veterans Affairs as a whole is looking to those best practices already being used by individual VA medical facilities, who have already reduced their wait times by implementing the aforementioned changes, including increasing their available weekday hours, weekend hours and hiring more doctors and clinicians.  Utilization of the $5 billion in emergency funding that Congress provided last year to assist with wait time solutions will also go a long way towards the alleviation of this problem.  Moreover, because of the recent adjustment to the interpretation of the 40 mile rule associated with the VA Choice program, there is yet another avenue now open to the VA to get veterans who are on a wait list that exceeds 30 days into a non-VA facility to receive treatment.  Finally, the VA does need to improve the way in which the Agency plans for and builds medical facilities, focusing on the demographics of where veteran populations live. Certainly, getting newer facilities in the right geographic locations will help to solve the wait time issue in the long term.

Lastly, in the North Florida area, on Friday, April 17, 2015, I will be hosting two educational programs concerning the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, in which there will be representatives from HealthNet and TriWest to provide information to veterans on enrollment.  This will be followed by a second, informational event for ways in which health care providers can enter the VA system and become a VA provider.  The first event will be held on Friday, April 17, 2015 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the UF Health Hospital (Shands) LRC Auditorium, 655 West 8th Street, Jacksonville, FL 32209, while the second will be in the same location, and take place from 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m.

Along with my colleagues on the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I remain vigilant to ensure that VA health clinics across the nation are receiving the necessary attention and funding to fully serve our veterans so that they have quick access to the best healthcare for their service to our great nation.”