Despite shakeups and changes at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs over the past 20 months, scheduling vets for medical appointment still takes too long, has too many hurdles and is too expensive, said U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
Earlier this month the Eastern Washington Republican and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., introduced the Faster Care for Veterans Act 2016. The proposed bill requires the VA to initiate pilot programs to incorporate commercially-available, self-scheduling technology at VA medical centers.
McMorris Rodgers said Friday she and Moulton are working to build bipartisan support for the bill as a response to the VA scandal of 2014 that exposed unacceptable wait times, poor treatment and failed customer service at VA facilities across the country.
According to Stars and Stripes, a Defense Department-affiliated newspaper congressionally mandated to independently cover the military, the VA’s antiquated, 1980s-era electronic scheduling system was thrust into the spotlight in 2014 when it was revealed the VA was manipulating it to hide long wait times for veterans seeking health care.
National attention has brought no improvement — the number of veterans waiting 30 days or more for medical care increased by 50 percent in 2015, according to McMorris Rodgers.
She and Moulton heard from VA officials on plans for a new, $624 million scheduling system she said would still not meet the full need, including an inability to integrate the Veterans Choice card.
McMorris Rodgers said veterans using the VA system should have the same appointment options as people have in private doctors’ offices across the country.
“After hearing from a number of veterans in Eastern Washington, it’s clear that current systems at the VA are so archaic and cumbersome, the agency is unable to follow through on its responsibility to provide the care our veterans have earned,” she said.
Off-the-shelf software already meets appointment scheduling needs in medical offices everywhere, she said, so why make a new system for the VA?
McMorris Rodgers said she talks to VA administrators in her congressional district, including Walla Walla, on a regular basis.
The Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial Veterans Affairs Medical Center appears to be doing a lot of things right, including its call center that puts a live person at the end of the phone for veterans to interact with, she said.
Yet, she added, she hears from veterans here saying they, too, continue to struggle to make sense of and be served by the VA’s appointment system.
“The VA, unfortunately, has some bureaucratic systems in place that do not welcome innovative approaches that empower results within the agency,” she said.
