Fayetteville VA scores higher than Little Rock in primary care, lower in specialty care
By: Chase Reavis
Fayetteville, Ark. — The Fayetteville VA Hospital’s routine primary care ranks seventh among 18 VA hospitals and clinics in Arkansas, but some veterans disagree do not think that ranking indicates poor service.
The Fayetteville VA holds an 86 percent approval rating for its routine primary care from veterans who have completed appointments. This approval rating is called a SHEP score — a Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients.
Derrick Calhoun, 24, UA senior and president of the Razorback Student Veterans, received good service from the Fayetteville VA, but he has not taken the time to complete the survey after his appointments.
“Not as many people are taking the time to do the evaluations, so their results could be skewed in that way,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun has used the Fayetteville VA for primary care, but had to go elsewhere when he needed specialty services, he said.
“They don’t have all the tools they need to keep everybody onsite,” Calhoun said.
The Fayetteville VA scored higher than the Little Rock VA for routine primary care by 4 percentage points, but scored 2 percentage points lower than the Little Rock VA for routine specialty care.
Calhoun thinks other patients have had to be referred to third-parties for their health problems like he did when he was referred to a cancer specialist. For Calhoun, being referred to a third-party lengthened the entire process into about three months of scheduling issues, he said.
“We have to schedule something with the VA, (and) we have to schedule something with a third party,” Calhoun said. “Before you can go back to that third-party for a checkup, you have to go back to the VA for them to evaluate you again to then send you back out to that third party again.”
Calhoun thinks patients who have gone through this long process might be angry, leading to them negatively scoring the Fayetteville VA, he said.
“It’s a lot of back and forth,” Calhoun said.
Dennis Johnson, 67, a Van Buren, Arkansas, resident who uses the Fayetteville VA, thinks the Fayetteville VA offers good service to local veterans, he said.
“I’ve not had to wait long for anything I’ve had done at Fayetteville, and I’ve had several things done there,” Johnson said. “The only thing I consider long is time between regular checkups.”
Johnson has to wait about 18 months between routine checkups, he said.
Fayetteville is rated lower for urgent care than routine care, with a 71 percent approval rating for urgent primary care and 70 percent for urgent specialty care.
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