Posted on 02/15/2016 6:45:11 AM PST by rktman
Congress is exploring a dramatic transformation of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals that would merge them with Department of Defense (DOD) facilities and treat active duty soldiers and veterans side by side.
Many veterans and lawmakers believe the VA healthcare system is in dire need of complete overhaul, and the idea of privatizing it has been increasingly popular. But lawmakers have also quietly been pondering a fix that would take it in the opposite direction — militarization.
A massive pilot project called Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago just completed a five-year trial, with seemingly positive results. The joint DOD-VA hospital now sees most patients within one day and nearly all within one month of their desired appointments, and ranks in the top five of VA hospitals in overall wait times.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Hillary did away with "fee-basis" 20 years ago. It has been somewhat restored with this new "Choice Program," but they have not returned my call from 7 months ago...
We should be authorized to use a local physician. Impossible to staff ALL VAH with state of the art surgical suites and physicians.
enlisted folks? What enlisted folks? You mean the peons that actually do the work? You’re funny ...
Contact a VSO, via VFW/Amer. Legion etc. They can cut through the hassle and retrieve your DD-214 from St.L VARO.
What do y’all think of vouchers so that vets can be cared for within the ‘private’ sphere?
No doubt there are abuses. In my case, a med I used to get through my employer retiree medical would cost me $40 for a 3 month supply. My former employer decided to drop all medicare eligible retirees and offer them an outside supplement. I signed up with one of their carriers that met what I thought I needed including Part D drug plan. When I tried to fill my prescription under the new plan, my med was now going to be $1200 per month. Guess what? I don’t have that kind of extra cash laying around. So, I entered the VA system to see if I could possibly get the med through them. Well only if written by a VA doc or approved outside doc. The VA doc said he doens’t care much for that med so no, he won’t prescribe it. I’m not looking for any disability money, just my meds. Still working it while using his alternative choice which screws my guts up for 3 days after taking it. Oh well.
Nice. Thanks for helping get the word out.
“the govt contract with private practices that wish to participate?”
The problem I have with farming vets out is that regular docs don’t have a good picture of what the vet has experienced or needs beyond standard medical care. Our vets deserve to be understood and treated as a whole person, not just a medical problem.
“Are the MD’s at the VA facilities there so they can avoid having to pay huge malpractice insurance premiums?”
Not in our experience. Federal docs make less than their civilian counterparts, significantly less in some specialties.
Got your take on it. Thanks.
“Veterans suffer from different classes of ailments as active duty military (obviously, with overlap).”
Actually, military bases are trying to get more retirees to get their medical care on base because doctors that see only healthy people tend to lose their skills. A study found that military docs take a while to catch up to full speed when we shift from peace time to war time, and when war time is over we have exceptional military docs who waste their skills again on healthy people. This proposal has the potential to be a great idea.
Hence they merge.
VA civ docs and uniform docs both working same facility seeing active, reserve, and veteran patients.
Military hospitals are required to have a limited number of retired veterans as patients. I’m enrolled at a military hospital near me and there are other retired vets being treated there, and a good number are older than me (i.e. late 60s), alongside the ‘youngsters’ on active duty.
This may not be a bad idea.
If congress does this it will make things worse not better
THANX ... all these years ... I never knew
LOL! Yeah, you gotta be careful anytime the ‘govt’ tries to fix something.
I stand (well, sit) corrected. If there is a valid medical reason to support this move, then I do not see an issue with it. I would imagine that some veterans who are not near a military medical facility may have issues getting care, but this is already the case for those that are not near a VA medical facility.
Thank you all for your service.
If anyone has a Vet with mental issues I highly suggest the MHICAM program. I don’t know the parameters for qualifying but they have been a Godsend in dealing with a relative. They will take my relative anywhere in the area even if it is to go buy underwear. And when he goes off the rails- they will go check and see what is going on and help me deal with the ensuing trauma drama.
GIVE BACK FULL ACCES TO AND FULL SERVICES (MEICAL, DENTAL, OPTICAL, Rx) SERVICES AT RAYMOND W. BLISS ARMY HOSPITAL.
Thank you for your perspective. I'm going to tag on, if you don't mind.
While stationed in Japan, our military hospital served active duty, retired, and dependents. It was, without question, the best medical facility I've ever been in. The doctors, nurses, and staff were mostly active duty or reservists. They UNDERSTOOD what their mission was. The CO of the hospital was a Full Bird, and the place ran with military precision. Patients were treated with respect.
Likewise, when we were stationed in Maryland, our base had a good size clinic, although not a hospital. It, too, served retirees and dependents. The care was excellent.
The solution is two-fold. VA hospitals should be run by the military. If they are run like the ones in my experience, veterans will prefer them over "regular" hospitals. The second part of the solution... treatment for veterans outside the range of military hospitals has already been addressed.
That and how often are active military hospitals close to veterans.
You also risk the military becoming more bureaucratic because of the influence of managing the VA.
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