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In a matter of months we could have our first President that comes from the business world. Service personnel are underserviced, and are committing suicide at an alarming rate. And it is no secret that the VA has had its share of difficulties meeting the demand of the military community. Is it time for us to look at other ways of solving this extremely important problem. Could privatization help?
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Officers
Enlisted
Retirement
Business
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 16
No. I like having a health system that is dedicated to the unique needs of veterans. I think it needs to be reformed and restructured, but not privatized. Markets do fail, so the private market doesn't solve every problem.
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GySgt Michael Wardell
I think a Hybrid would work best. Private care for some of the more 'normal' problems at a minimum as well as some of the more difficult problems. The best Doctors are in private practice, not at the VA.
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LTC Kevin B.
"The best Doctors are in private practice, not at the VA." I won't personally disparage any group of physicians like that without supporting data. Ultimately, you'd have to verify that assertion with actual comparisons of health outcomes, and the VA does surprisingly well when compared against the private sector. The empirical literature shows that, in aggregate, "quality" of care in the VA is statistically better or statistically no different than care in the private sector. If you want to see a full literature review on the comparison, Google "Comparison of Quality of Care in VA and Non-VA Settings: A Systematic Review." The VA also fares very well when comparing the "cost" of healthcare against the private sector. "Access" to care is where the VA has problems. If veterans can get to the healthcare (access), that care is of favorable quality and at a favorable cost structure (to taxpayers, not to the patients) when compared to the private sector. Lastly, even if those "best doctors" are in the private sector, it's an assumption to think they have capacity to accept veterans as new patients. Our veterans may just step out of one long line and into another long line, and not receive any better care (as evidenced by the empirical studies). I don't think that actually solves any problems.
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GySgt Michael Wardell
LTC Kevin B. - Then I'll do it Kevin, The Doctors I've had the immense displeasure of being worked on are as clueless as a first-year med student. Listening to an orthopedic doctor with '30 years' at the VA (because he couldn't hack it in real medicine) attempt to bully me into accepting a diagnosis that I knew for a fact to be completely incorrect and when he arrogantly asked if I'd been to med school I replied no, but my real doctor is someone that is a professor at one of the top 3 medical Universities in the country and a Parent that is a doctor and since I've dealt with my issue for almost 20 years and studied it at the clinical level on my own and could run circles around his piss poor latin at both the anatomical level as well as the neuroscience level only infuriated him more because he got caught being a douchebag. If he were a real physician subject to malpractice insurance I would have had his balls for breakfast. Stop looking at this so call empirical data that has been known to be manipulated to produce results that D.C.. Do you really want to see what's going on or continue to tell the people you work for what they want to hear? If so, get your head out of the paperwork and go talk to patients. I wouldn't see the VA if my life depended on it. Yes, the people at the patient level are not bad at all but the mid to high-level fools should be sent to Adak and retired there as they are nothing but a bunch of yes men and woman worried about their career and not the patients. If the VA is so good, then why don't they let the market decide if they are good or not? Because they would fail in a matter of months. Civilian hospitals and physicians that can't cut the mustard are culled from the world.....and guess where they go? The VA because there is no accountability.
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COL Lee Flemming
PFC Al Sethre and CAPT Kevin B. your points are well taken and the caution is real. Al I could actually see your slogan as the sound bite just before the news anchor comes on to explain the waste, fraud and abuse that was discovered with the new private company!!
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I have been very blessed to be treated at one of the top VA hospital, Hunter Holmes McGuire VAMC, in Richmond, VA. Say what you will, but if I had been at a "for profit" hospital, I would be dead today. I was treated for non-alcoholic liver failure. I have have a transplant through the VA. I have a unique perspective in this, as I am a healthcare provider (RN & Paramedic). The VA recently started a program where, if you are greater than 60 miles from a VA facility or cannot get an appointment for greater than 30 days out, you can be seen my a private physician, PT, etc. Yhe VA is also contracting with private mental health providers to see certain veterens in the out-patient setting. The VA has a special position, as I have experienced, in working with the unique mindset of veterens. While my transplant was performed at VCU Medical Center, it was not until I returned to the VA hospital for recovery and rehab that I was pushed to obtain the physical results I was capable of. Things happened quicker there, too. At VCU, a resident or fellow would stat they were ordering a medication or test and I could be 24 hours before the nurses had the orders. At the VA, the orders were put in the computer by the physician as they stood at my bedside. Within a very short period, the nurse would come in and update me to the orders. While I realize that the VAMC may not be the norm across the board, it is the example they all should follow. In the end, it IS all about the patient.
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COL Lee Flemming
SGT Tim Soyars thanks for sharing your experience! There by the grace of God we go. I am so glad for your survival.
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