Homework 9/13

Caroline Davis

In an article (DATE?) published by the Denver Post, I found that VA wait times in Colorado are among the worst in the nation. Even more astonishing is that even though improvement has been attempted for over three years, the numbers have yet to make improvement. Nearly 14 percent of veteran patients awaiting doctor visits at the Eastern Colorado Health Care System (WHERE IS THIS? BASED IN DENVER?) had wait times longer than 30 days, with primary care falling on the latter end of the scale. The improvement on these  long wait times have been the focus of many VA hospitals around the country since 2014, when a scandal broke over VA hospitals falsifying records by lying about wait times.

In an article(DATE?) by USA Today, findings in North Carolina and Virginia also saw falsified records of wait times. This was very impactful (WORD USAGE- AVOID) as the false records in turn ruled out waiting veterans ability to use other doctors or facilities. The hospitals were lying (REMEMBER ATTRIBUTION TO THE ARTICLE). about wait times to prevent themselves from being reprimanded, but veterans that were extremely sick and waiting for healthcare for over a month were dying due to not being able to be seen by other doctors due to the falsified information that claimed the patients were being seen sooner than they really were. Records were falsified in nearly 60 percent of appointment data.

Migoya, D. (2017, July 28). Wait times at Colorado VA facilities among worst in the nation, new data show. Retrieved September 14, 2017, from http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/27/colorado-veterans-affairs-facilities-long-wait-time/

Slack, D. (2017, March 03). Inaccurate VA wait times preclude thousands of vets from getting outside care, probe finds. Retrieved September 14, 2017, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/03/veterans-affairs-inspector-general-widespread-inaccuracies-wait-times/98693856/

Walsh, K. S., Murphy, K. P., Bisaha, S., & Lawrence, Q. (2017, January 31). VA Hospitals Still Struggling With Adding Staff Despite Billions From Choice Act. Retrieved September 14, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/2017/01/31/512052311/va-hospitals-still-struggling-with-adding-staff-despite-billions-from-choice-act

VA Data and Documentation Questions:

-In the report to Congress on October 3, 2014,(BE SPECIFIC ABOUT THE REPORT TITLE) they talk about how they’re going to improve wait times, but from the articles that I have read over the wait times, there doesn’t seem to be much of a change. Some places, such as Denver, have gotten worse with wait times. Why is this?