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Morning Briefing

Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

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Wednesday, Jan 23 2019

Full Issue

'Significant Progress' Has Been Made At VA Hospitals As Wait Times Are Shorter Than Private Sector, JAMA Study Finds

In sharp contrast to 2014, mean wait times in 2017 at VA hospitals had gone down to 17.7 days, while rising to 29.8 for private practitioners. In other news on veterans affairs, two U.S. senators seek answers on a veteran's death in Missouri.

The New York Times: V.A. Wait Times Now Shorter Than For Private Doctors

Wait times for an appointment at Veterans Affairs hospitals have decreased since 2014 and are now, on average, shorter than those in the private sector, a new study shows. Researchers used V.A. data to calculate wait times for about 17 million appointments. The public sector data came from a survey conducted by a physicians’ search firm in nearly 2,000 medical offices in 30 major and midsize metropolitan areas. (Bakalar, 1/22)

Kansas City Star: VA Denies Info To Missouri’s Blunt, McCaskill On Vet’s Death

The Kansas City VA Medical Center has declined for months to provide The Star documents, audio and video related to the death of a veteran following an altercation with a VA police officer in May. Now the VA headquarters is denying Congress the information. (Marso, 1/22)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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