A proposed massive overhaul of the sprawling veterans’ health care system across the country and in West Virginia has triggered deep concern among leaders of veterans’ groups and politicians that the quality of care will suffer.
The recommended restructuring is included in the Department of Veterans Affairs report that will be taken up by the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission and eventually sent to Congress and the President.
In West Virginia, the recommendations include shifting many of the primary care responsibilities away from existing VA medical centers to other community-based hospitals. Ted Dias, the veterans assistance secretary for West Virginia, is alarmed by the proposals.
“My first briefing on the proposal, I was astonished,” he said on Talkline last week. “I could not believe what I was hearing.”
The report recommends discontinuing in-patient and emergency room care at three VA medical centers in the state—the Beckley VA Medical Center, the Louis A. Johnson Medical Center in Clarksburg, and the Hershel “Woody” Williams VAMC in Huntington—and shifting those services to local hospitals.
The VA report contends the changes will modernize and improve veterans health care across the country. “These facilities were not designed to meet modern health care standards, which limits VA’s agility to meet evolving veteran care needs, and basic environment of care expectations,” the report says.
Senator Joe Manchin (D, WV), who serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee, and Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R, WV) have joined with a bipartisan group of 12 Senators calling on President Biden and Congress to take a closer look at the potential impacts of the recommendations.
“For many elderly veterans, VA facilities are the only place they seek care,” they said. “The reasons veterans often cite are that they are better understood, respected and cared for at their local VA Medical Center.”
Critics also question the accuracy of the information used to make the recommendations. They cite a General Accounting Office report which concluded it “lacked complete data” on whether there are an “adequate number of non-VA providers to ensure veterans have timely access to community care.”
Health care for our country’s veterans is a sacred obligation, dating back to President Abraham Lincoln’s promise “to care for him who shall have borne the battle.” The VA operates the largest fully integrated hospital system in the country, providing care to over nine million veterans at nearly 1,300 facilities. These facilities must be using updated digital health solutions in order to provide the care that our veterans need.
Like most sprawling systems, it is likely the VA health care system needs periodic realignment and modernization. However, our political leaders and veterans’ organizations are raising legitimate concerns and they must help ensure that the recommendations will, in fact, improve care and not diminish services or create additional hardship for the men and women who have served our country and rely on the VA.