VA Health System To Change Appointments System To Treat Most Severely Disabled First
Veterans Affairs Department Secretary Anthony Principi has announced that the VA department will modify its scheduling system to ensure that the "most severely disabled" veterans receive treatment first, the AP/New York Times reports. Under the current system, which grants appointments on a first come first served basis, more than 300,000 veterans cannot get an appointment within six months of their request, and "thousands" more cannot get an appointment at all. According to Principi, the backlog is the result of a 1996 decision to open access to VA services to veterans who were not injured while in service. Those veterans currently account for 33% of all patients in the VA system. Principi said it is "unacceptable" to deny appointments to service-disabled veterans while veterans who were wounded in service receive appointments. Under the new rule, the VA will grant priority to "severely disabled" veterans, even if the immediate health problem needing attention is unrelated to their military service, and to "moderately disabled" veterans who seek care for disabilities stemming from their service. The new policy would not affect emergency treatment, the AP/Times reports. "We need to get back to our core mission: the service-disabled and the poor," Principi said. In another attempt to reduce appointment waiting times, the VA last month decided to stop "marketing" its services to veterans who may be eligible for services but not aware of them, the AP/Times reports (AP/New York Times, 9/4).
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
