HVAC Hearing to Examine How VA Tracks Patient Wait Times
WASHINGTON, D.C.—On Thursday, March 14, 2013, at 1:00 P.M., in Room 334 of the Cannon House Office Building, the Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee will hold a hearing examining the continued struggle of the Department of Veterans Affairs to accurately track patient wait times.
Currently, VA is not able to provide an accurate assessment as to the average time between when an appointment is desired, scheduled and when a veteran receives treatment – a problem attributable to VA's tendency to move its performance metrics around and stray from its own internal policies, training and procedures.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) and VA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) have been reviewing VA patient wait times since at least 2005 and have found consistent problems with VA's data reliability and policy implementation. While VA has expressed an intent to fix these problems, the department has made very little progress in doing so. This lack of progress has contributed to a backlog of veterans awaiting appointments, some for critical and life-threatening procedures.
The following event is open to the press:
WHO: Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations
WHAT: Hearing: Waiting for Care: Examining Patient Wait Times at VA
WHEN: 1:00 P.M., Thursday, March. 14, 2013
WHERE: Room 334, Cannon House Office Building and streaming at veterans.house.gov
The witness list is as follows:
Panel 1
Mr. William Schoenhard
Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management
Veterans Health Administration
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Accompanied by:
Mr. Thomas Lynch, M.D.
Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health Clinical Operations and Management
Veterans Health Administration
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Mr. Philip Matkovsky
Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Administrative Operations
Veterans Health Administration
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Mr. Michael Davies, M.D.
National Director of Systems Redesign
Veterans Health Administration
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Ms. Debra A. Draper
Director, Health Care
Government Accountability Office
Mr. Roscoe Butler
National Field Service Representative
Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Commission
The American Legion
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Sean Eagan
American Cold War Veterans, Inc.
| Web: | http://americancoldwarvets.org/ |
| Blog: | Cold War Veterans Blog |
| Email: | Sean.Eagan@gmail.com |
| Phone: | |
| Network: | My Fast Pitch! Profile |
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