VA CARE STILL AILING
System still suffers from uneven quality
An analysis of Veterans Affairs hospitals provides a picture of how the 146 centers compare to other health care facilities on an array of factors.
For instance, at roughly 70 percent of VA hospitals, the median time between arrival in the emergency room and admission was longer than at other hospitals.
There were some positive findings. As of June 30, a majority of VA hospitals reported lower death rates than other facilities. Many VA medical centers also stacked up better on prevention of post-surgical complications.
Still, dozens had higher rates of preventable infections and severe bedsores. And nearly every VA performed worse than other medical providers on patient satisfaction surveys.
When 66-year-old Navy veteran Phyllis Seleska arrived at the emergency room at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Loma Linda, California, in August 2017, the waiting room was crowded with dozens of veterans, some in wheelchairs lined up to the entrance.
Seleska was suffering throbbing pain after shattering her wrist but received no medication and had to wait more than seven hours to see a doctor, records show. By then, the orthopedics staff had gone home. So a nurse strapped a Velcro splint on her wrist and told her to come back in the morning.
“I don’t know why it took so long to get back there to be told we can’t do anything to help you,” said Seleska, who worked on the flight deck of aircraft carriers in both Gulf Wars.
Her experience wasn’t unusual. At roughly 70 percent of VA hospitals, the median time between arrival in the emergency room and admission was longer than at other hospitals, in some cases by hours, according to a USA TODAY analysis of the department’s data. That included Loma Linda, where the median wait is more than 7 1⁄2 hours.
The USA TODAY analysis provides the most comprehensive picture to date of how 146 VA medical centers compare to other health care facilities on an array of factors.
The analysis is based on scores of spreadsheets the VA has posted online in recent years containing comparisons of its medical centers to non-VA averages on everything from the ER wait times to infection rates and patient-survey results.
The analysis produced some positive findings for the VA. As of June 30, a majority of VA hospitals reported lower death rates than other facilities. Many VA medical centers also stacked up better on prevention of post-surgical complications such as blood clots.
At the same time, dozens had higher rates of preventable infections and severe bedsores – a sign of potential neglect. And nearly every VA performed worse than other medical providers on industry-standard patient satisfaction surveys.
VA spokesman Curt Cashour said certain veterans may have conditions that make them more susceptible to complications, and “caution should be exercised” when drawing conclusions from the comparisons.
He said the VA “does recognize the need to improve the speed by which it can admit veterans to the inpatient unit,” but he said non-VA hospitals also struggle with long waits.
“VA provides some of the highest quality health care available today,” Cashour said.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has been buffeted by crises since 2014 when news reports revealed that patients died awaiting appointments at the Phoenix VA hospital.
There were lethal lapses in Oklahoma City, patient safety failures in Memphis, Tennessee, and equipment and sterilization problems in Washington, D.C.