WASHINGTON (AP) — More veterans are being allowed to
obtain health care at private hospitals and clinics in an effort to
improve their treatment following allegations of falsified records and
delays in treatment.
In a statement issued Saturday, Veterans
Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki also said VA facilities are enhancing
capacity of their clinics so veterans can get care sooner. In cases
where officials cannot expand capacity at VA centers, the Department of
Veterans Affairs is "increasing the care we acquire in the community
through non-VA care," Shinseki said.
Lawmakers from both parties
have pressed for this policy change as the VA confronts allegations
about treatment delays and falsified records at VA centers nationwide.
The
department’s inspector general says 26 VA facilities are under
investigation, including the Phoenix VA hospital, where a former clinic
director says as many as 40 veterans may have died will awaiting
treatment.
Officials also are investigating claims that VA
employees have falsified appointment records to cover up delays in care.
An initial review of 17 people who died while awaiting appointments in
Phoenix found that none of their deaths appeared to have been caused by
delays in treatment.
The allegations have raised fresh concerns
about the administration’s management of a department that has been
struggling to keep up with the influx of veterans returning home from
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Vietnam veterans needing more care
as they age.
The directive announced Saturday should make it
easier for veterans to get medical care at non-VA facilities, according
to an agency spokeswoman.
The VA spent about $4.8 billion last
year on medical care at non-VA hospitals and clinics, spokeswoman
Victoria Dillon said. That amounts to about 10 percent of health care
costs for the Veterans Health Administration, the agency’s health care
arm.
It was not clear how much the new initiative would cost, Dillon said.
Rep.
Jeff Miller, R-Fla, chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee,
welcomed Shinseki’s announcement, but questioned why it took so long.
Reports about the veterans at the Phoenix hospital surfaced more than a
month ago.
"It appears the department is finally starting to take
concrete steps to address the problem," Miller said Saturday, calling
the directive "a welcome change from the department’s previous approach,
which was to wait months for the results of yet another investigation
into a problem we already know exists."
Miller has accused
Shinseki and President Barack Obama of focusing on internal reviews
while "overlooking VA’s very real, very deadly and very well-documented
delays-in-care problem."
Miller has pledged to introduce
legislation that would give any veteran who is unable to obtain a VA
appointment within 30 days the option to receive non-VA care at the
department’s expense.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has called for
the VA to allow more veterans to receive medical care at private
hospitals. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said this past
week that she was open to the idea of medical care at private hospitals.
She said it was unacceptable to have a backlog of patients waiting for
permission to go to a federally qualified clinic.
___
Follow Matthew Daly: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.