Advocates claim VA trains personnel to break federal wait time law - WFLA
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A veterans advocacy group alleges records show Veterans Affairs personnel are trained to ignore a law passed to allow patients to seek civilian care under certain conditions including if they wait too long for an appointment.
One page from a Concerned Veterans for America’s (CVA) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request offers guidance for a patient’s request made on Feb. 2, 2020.
The date of the actual appointment was 48 days later, but according to CVA Senior Advisor Darin Selnick, that nearly two-month window was shrunk down to 0 by VA personnel using Patient Indicated Date (PID) as the appointment date.
The document includes a “good job” stamp on it.
“Good job?” Selnick asked with a chuckle. “There concern is supposed to be veterans are getting timely, quality care. Not that they’re stopping the care, and that’s a good job.”
Selnick, an Air Force veteran, helped write the 2019 Mission Act. The regulation states wait times need to be calculated starting on the patient’s “date of request.” PID is an older standard that involved the VA choosing the date.
VA Public Information Officers have yet to respond to requests for comment about CVA’s claims.
The Community Care Choice Act was passed by Congress in 2014 after several veterans died while waiting on secret lists for medical care in what became known as the Phoenix scandal.
After the law was passed the VA was accused of manipulating wait times by starting the clock on arbitrary dates that shortened wait time data.
Under the Mission Act, veterans are supposed to be offered Community Care outside the VA if healthcare standards are not met, or if they wait more than 20 days for a primary care appointment or more than 28 days for specialty care.
An 8 On Your Side FOIA revealed only 9 out 106,000 Tampa Bay area Community Care patients received primary care during a recent two-year period.
The day after our investigation detailed Army Veteran Kevin Cramer’s struggle, the VA and two Tampa Bay area congressmen called offering help to the Lutz resident.
He and his wife Angela are now optimistic he can find a surgeon to remove a cyst from his brain blamed on countless explosions he was near during his tour in Afghanistan.
“When is anybody going to say, ‘sorry we missed this.'” Angela Cramer asked. “Let’s try to figure out what it is, what we need to do and figure out how to get you better.”
CVA presented its findings to members of congress in a recent, closed Zoom meeting.
8 On Your Side was also asked to discuss the primary care data we obtained as well as the results of a year of reports about Community Care issues.
Cramer said she hopes the scrutiny will help all veterans and definitely her husband get the help they earned.
“So that [he] can have that concentration,” she said. “So, your brain is not so fuzzy. You can go back to driving.”
Kevin Cramer said he is still waiting for an actual appointment for surgery through Community Care, but he added his case appears to be getting more attention now.
“I just want to get the help I need,” he said. “I want to go back to school, live a normal life.”
source: https://www.wfla.com/8-on-your-side/advocates-claim-va-trains-personnel-to-break-federal-wait-time-law/
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