The purpose of this memo is to respond the limited patient access problem diagnosis inquiry affecting Veterans at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The Veterans Health Administration is the nation’s leading integrated health care system. It consists of 150 Medical Centers, nearly 1,400 Outpatient Clinics, more than 135 Nursing Homes, 278 Veterans Centers, and 48 Domiciliaries. As the nation’s leading integrated health care system and the nation’s second largest cabinet agency, The Veterans Health Administration provides healthcare services to nearly 9 million veterans, including 6 million who seek care regularly (Veterans Health Administration, 2016).
Patient access is an important factor to a healthy population, the goal is to ensure that patients receive the care they need at the appropriate time, and in the right setting. Despite billions of dollar spent on the VA health care system and various efforts to improve veteran’s access to care, the VA continues to face patient access issues that affect Veteran’s care. Veterans are waiting a long period of times for care; which means they are being diagnosed late, readmitted for hospitalization, and some veterans …show more content…
Despite various efforts to respond to the problem, veterans are still faced with major medical care delays and continue to complain that they are waiting for an extended amount of time to receive the care they need. The appointment wait times and backlog are some of the indicators of the problem. Veterans are waiting for months to receive critical care they need; for procedures like colonoscopies, and other specialty care that require immediate attention. Kesling (2014) explained that the waiting list of veterans seeking for health care is 50% higher now than it was a year ago and patients had to wait three, six months at a time, sometimes more for
The Veterans Health Administration is the nation’s leading integrated health care system. It consists of 150 Medical Centers, nearly 1,400 Outpatient Clinics, more than 135 Nursing Homes, 278 Veterans Centers, and 48 Domiciliaries. As the nation’s leading integrated health care system and the nation’s second largest cabinet agency, The Veterans Health Administration provides healthcare services to nearly 9 million veterans, including 6 million who seek care regularly (Veterans Health Administration, 2016).
Patient access is an important factor to a healthy population, the goal is to ensure that patients receive the care they need at the appropriate time, and in the right setting. Despite billions of dollar spent on the VA health care system and various efforts to improve veteran’s access to care, the VA continues to face patient access issues that affect Veteran’s care. Veterans are waiting a long period of times for care; which means they are being diagnosed late, readmitted for hospitalization, and some veterans …show more content…
Despite various efforts to respond to the problem, veterans are still faced with major medical care delays and continue to complain that they are waiting for an extended amount of time to receive the care they need. The appointment wait times and backlog are some of the indicators of the problem. Veterans are waiting for months to receive critical care they need; for procedures like colonoscopies, and other specialty care that require immediate attention. Kesling (2014) explained that the waiting list of veterans seeking for health care is 50% higher now than it was a year ago and patients had to wait three, six months at a time, sometimes more for