Program To Give Veterans Faster Health Care Is Still Working Through Glitches

WPLN | By Emily Siner

Published November 23, 2015 at 5:39 AM CST

Jimmy Ross talks to regional VA officials at a recent town hall meeting in Dover, Tenn.

At a town hall meeting with Tennessee VA officials last week in Dover, veterans said they were frustrated and confused by what’s called the Veterans Choice Program, which allows some patients to get care from private doctors.

Veterans Affairs has been sending out white cards in the mail, which almost look like insurance cards, informing veterans of the option to participate in the program. It's an attempt to help patients get health care faster: If they live more than 40 miles from a VA clinic or have to wait more than a month for an appointment, the VA will pay for a doctor outside its network.

It's a great program if it works, says Don Bailey, who runs the American Legion in Dover. But many people are having trouble using the card.

“The big thing with the Veterans Choice Program is, the system is out there, but it’s so complicated that it’s kind of hard to understand how we use that network of care available to get the services we need,” he says.

For example, before patients can go to a private doctor, they have to call a VA hotline first to find out if they're eligible. One veteran at the town hall meeting says he’s called three times and never heard back. Another claims he was told he wasn’t eligible, even though he was waiting three months for an appointment at the VA.

This Choice Program is part of a $10 billion nationwide quickfix that Congress passed last year after a scandal erupted over long wait times. So Suzanne Jené, who’s the acting director of the VA system for the region, says there’s only so much she can do to improve it. But she says they can communicate better.

“I think from our perspective, as long as we come to these town hall meetings, we bring the paperwork. I think that’s going to be helpful, and to put it in a language that everybody understands,” Jené says.

Meanwhile, the federal VA has been taking steps to consolidate initiatives like this.By one estimatefrom the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Veterans Affairs has seven different programs to help pay for private doctors.