When it Comes to the VA, Do Veterans Really Have a 'Choice'? | The American Conservative

Bottom line, Vets want the VA fully staffed and funded so they don’t need to rely on private sector care. More small VA community clinics should be opened throughout the country, so Vets won’t have to travel so far, and more care providers need to be hired to reduce appointment wait times.
The biggest obstacle the VA has is poor managers who impose ineffective policies and procedures and refuse to listen to front-line workers. I’ve been to dozens of VA facilities and all of them suffer, to a degree, from poor management. For example, one VA hospital had a Radiology Department manager who was so focused on metrics, he consistently rewarded one radiologist who read and analyzed the most x-rays, MRIs, and scans despite that radiologist’s higher rate of mistakes. That same manager penalized another radiologist who was not as productive (but met requirements) but had the lowest rate of mistakes, including catching the faster radiologist’s mistakes when tasked to review his work. The manager penalized the radiologist who focused on quality work was consistently by giving more difficult and time consuming work which made it improbable for him to meet case goals, then would discipline him for not meeting goals. A clear case of quantity being rewarded over quality and using favoritism to get desired metrics. As far as that manager was concerned, he wanted that radiologist to play his numbers game even if it resulted in incorrect diagnoses. Unfortunately, that way of doing business is too common within the VA. The lousy managers get rewarded for meeting metrics while good care providers are penalized for providing expert care.

I wasn't given a choice really, I was told not to come back to the VA and allow "real veterans" a place to get the care "they deserved". To be honest, I was treated so poorly I was pretty happy to go find a civilian doctor.

CAPT (Join to see) there is much I could say but not on this forum. Employees should be hired based on strong skills and a good understanding of common Sense health carerrd flags. This should be the very first relaxed issue to be confronted. Private providers use us for Neal tickets and they drag our care out until all of the approved visits have been exhausted and there is no resolution in our treatment so the treatment is incomplete. Many of them have no intention of letting their meal tickets find remission of medical problems. I am a victim of this private sector treatment. I am working on a presentation to present to my Congressman and request to speak before a Congressional Meeting about my experience coupled with documented cases such as this.