President Barack Obama recently signed a measure to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to The Hill. The bill aims to fund the VA with an additional $16.3 billion package that will be used to hire more medical personnel and build and lease more health facilities. It will also empower the VA secretary to fire ineffective health care managers.
Working to reduce veterans' wait times
The measure follows recent controversy surrounding wait times veterans faced while scheduling medical appointments. A recent internal audit of the VA showed that 10 percent of veterans seeking care at VA medical facilities faced wait times lasting 30 days or more for an appointment, according to The Associated Press. Moreover, 46,000 had waited over three months for an appointment at the time of the audit and 7,000 veterans did not receive an appointment over the decade in which they were requested.
Those wait times were caused by a combination of staff shortages, and data manipulation by medical managers in VA hospitals. Dozens of veterans died while waiting for care, according to a CNN investigation.
The new bill aims to decrease those wait times and better serve veterans in three ways.
1. More staffing and VA health center locations
Serving hundreds of thousands of veterans is a monumental task. Even serving the veterans still on waiting lists was a task the VA was ill-equipped for Sloan Gibson, the acting Secretary of the VA, told lawmakers in July 2014, the AP reported. To improve patient outcomes, billions of dollars would be necessary to hire extra medical professionals and acquire new facilities to see more veterans. With the $16.3 billion plan, more doctors and nurses can be hired at thousands of VA facilities, USA Today Reported. Additionally, the VA can more easily lease new locations for facilities. According to Military Times, veterans groups and VA officials have already found 27 new locations for lease.
2. More accountability
Providing an easier route for VA officials to dismiss corrupt health managers was one of the main goals of the bill, as VA scandals brought the department under severe public scrutiny earlier this year, which ended in former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki's resignation.
"If you engage in an unethical practice, cover up a serious problem, you should be fired," Obama told military service members, veterans and their family members, according to The Hill. "As a country, we have a sacred obligation to serve you as well as you served us."
The bill gives VA Secretary Robert McDonald greater power to fire senior health officials for poor management, and legislators have stated it will help McDonald make VA workers more accountable, according to Military Times.
3. Veterans can seek private care
One of the barriers many veterans in rural areas faced was getting to VA facilities that are too far away. Now, the new law allows veterans who live over 40 miles away from VA facilities to receive care from a private doctor, CNN reported. This measure will also apply to veterans who cannot receive care within a reasonable amount of time at a VA facility.