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Health See other Health Articles Title: How Trump can fix the deadly Veterans Administration Last week, the Department of Veterans Affairs got caught hiding the quality ratings of its 146 medical centers. VA Secretary Robert McDonald insists: “No VA medical facility is bad or failing.” Really? Not even a hospital that earns only one star out of five? McDonald denies he’s concealing anything. But he and other VA brass have plenty to cover up. In 2014, the nation was horrified to learn that vets were dying while waiting for medical appointments, and VA staff concealed wait times. Now new patients wait even longer. Recently, a vet with heart troubles died while waiting for a cardiology appointment at the Washington, DC, facility. Investigators concluded getting an appointment would’ve likely saved his life. Meanwhile, Democratic senators are still blocking a bill to hold VA executives accountable for these deadly failures. What’s wrong with firing liars and incompetents? Democrats would rather side with the public-service unions that fill their campaign coffers and turn out the vote. But despite the Dems running interference, the VA can still be fixed. And President-elect Donald Trump can get it done. His yet-to-be-named VA secretary has opportunities to make improvements quickly, circumventing VA obstructionists and their Democratic enablers. –– ADVERTISEMENT –– When the VA’s secret five-star rating system was exposed last week in USA Today, McDonald whined the news might “dissuade veterans from coming to [the] VA for care.” You bet. Why entrust your life to a one-star hospital? The VA hospitals in New York and New Jersey mostly get three or four stars, but Montrose, NY, gets five. Other top hospitals include Boston, Cleveland, Minneapolis and West Haven, Conn. The Phoenix VA, where vets died while their names languished on wait lists, was rated one star in 2014 and hasn’t improved. Yet the Obama administration is fighting to enable its director, Sharon Helman, to keep her job. In response to the Phoenix scandal, Congress required the VA to participate in a rating website called Hospital Compare, which also posts data on civilian hospitals. So vets can decide where to go. The VA at first complied — but now refuses to post the information, so vets have to fly blind. On the other hand, the data we do have don’t paint a pretty picture. Longer wait times for patients needing primary care, specialty care and mental-health care are hardly evidence of the “irrefutable progress” McDonald brags about. It’s not a money problem. Congress appropriated a record $163 billion to the VA in 2016, more than the department requested. The real problem is a lack of discipline at all levels. Consider the alarming increase in central-line infections — a key indicator of hospital quality. These lethal infections are totally preventable when medical staff rigorously follow protocols. Some civilian hospitals have reduced them to zero. The VA has no excuse. Whoever Trump appoints as VA secretary will face a hostile and legally entrenched bureaucracy determined to protect its own cushy jobs, instead of serving vets. Even so, Trump’s VA chief can succeed. Here’s one quick fix that could save many lives and cost taxpayers almost nothing: 47 percent of VA users are 65 or older and already on Medicare. They need bypass surgery, angioplasty and hip and knee replacements, like other seniors. Often, they use the VA to avoid Medicare’s out-of-pocket expenses. Their average household income is $36,000. Enabling them to use Medicare without co-pays could cut VA waiting lists by nearly half. That would make room for younger vets to get the specialized war-related care at which the VA excels. Fully 58 percent of these recent veterans require mental-health treatment for combat trauma and suicide risk, and 62 percent have muscular and skeletal injuries. Trump’s new secretary can’t delay. Forget about more commissions or reports. Action is needed now. Thousands of vets’ lives hang in the balance. Betsy McCaughey is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.
#1. To: Ada (#0)
No it cannot be "fixed". Disband the the VA medical division, give the veterans a card to go where they want for care. Sixty five years ago I was was warned, never go near military or VA doctors, never.
Disband the the VA medical division, give the veterans a card to go where they want for care. I understand a few of them are quite good. What do you think of the suggestion of allowing them to use Medicare without co-pays.
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