Is Veteran Health Administration doing their best servicing our veterans?

2015-01-28T11:44:15-05:00

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2015 11:54 AM

2015-01-28T11:54:58-05:00

As always there are people who will bend over backwards to help you and there are people being paid to do nothing. There are issues with red tape in most government agencies that can be counterproductive. That is when you find out who will help you and who will not.

Response by LTC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2015 1:01 PM

2015-01-28T13:01:28-05:00

As a dissbled vet, I am a consumer of healthcare at the VA over many years. I am also a medical provider in the VA system. In general staff try their best to do the right thing. There are some that don't. It's the luck of the draw. It is really very necessary to be involved in your health care and be politely assertive in order to get what you need. The red tape is a problem as is the systemic inefficiencies preventing good, timely healthcare, which follow accepted standards of care. Knowing that the standards of care manfated by goverment will not always follow accepted civilian standards due to a multitude of causes. Lack of staff, unavailable services, high demand, and inefficiencies all affect the care that you receive. Each VAMC will operate quite differently. Therefore some do netter than others. We as veterans and taxpayers as well as the VSO's need to demand improvements in the system continously. Otherwise we will continue to get what we have and not what we were promised when we joined. Vets either fought for or sweated for our benefits that only take care of our occupationally related problems like workers compensation. We need to demand what we have earned.

Response by PO2 Walter Edwards made Jan 28 at 2015 2:47 PM

2015-01-28T14:47:13-05:00

To answer this, i would have to say no. I am a VHA employee who is very frustrated with some processes. That is all i can say for now. I am going to go through the proper channels and probably have to use the Whistleblower Protection Act with what i have to say so i don't lose my job.

Response by COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM made Jan 28 at 2015 2:52 PM

2015-01-28T14:52:11-05:00

- From a macro/enterprise perspective: absolutely not. Several things need to be looked at, improved, and/or changed such as: processes, procedures, systems, rules, budget, ratio of providers to admin personnel, etc.
- From a micro/individual provider perspective: I am sure there are pockets of excellence of VA personnel who do their best. There is, however, evidence of personnel who not only do not but are incompetent at best, criminal at worst. The question becomes how to protect and promote the good ones while quickly getting rid of the bad ones. Firing a criminal or incompetent person in the VA seems to require an 11th commandment from God or an act of Congress and maybe both.
- From a customer perspective. Beauty, or in this case customer service, is in the eye of the beholder. The only thing I have used the VA for thus far has been to leverage portions of my GI Bill. Not ineffective but certainly not pleasant or easy either.