The things we’ve learned — or relearned
Veterans have reminded us they expect the Phoenix VA to keep improving
U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald said last August, “It is critical that we continue to listen and learn directly from those who use our system.” It’s one way for us to start rebuilding the trust with veterans which was broken here and other places last year. The Phoenix VA Health Care System took the secretary’s message to heart by holding a half-dozen veterans’ town hall meetings in Phoenix with our partners from Veterans Benefits Administration; Gilbert; Surprise; and Show Low. We will hear from Globe veterans later this month.
We’ve heard intensely personal stories — where veterans felt VA medical care saved their lives and, in some cases, harmed their lives. We’ve heard how this affects their families, their jobs and their sense of self.
These heartbreaking and heartwarming stories come from hundreds of veterans who attended these town hall meetings to give us honest feedback on where we are doing well and where we have fallen short.
They’ve reminded us what our purpose is and what we are driven to do — improve.
Veterans value VA care
VA is important to veterans and their family members here at the Phoenix VA Health Care System. Our veterans are passionate. They’re vocal. They’re brutally honest. And they care.
Veterans have told us, by participating in these meetings, they value VA health care. They invested their time, by sharing their experiences, to help us move forward in improving the timeliness and quality of the health care they receive.
They want to brag about the great care and great people at the Phoenix VA. They, like us, want us to be the best in the country.
Fix the phones, please
Our reports tell us callers are on hold for too long and too many of them hang up before talking to a person. We’ve heard we are inconsistent about returning phone messages.
Veterans and their family members, in town hall meetings, humanized this problem in ways big and small — missed appointments, delayed refills on pre- scriptions, delays in getting simple questions answered, to name a few.
Some will say this problem is easy to fix. “Just tell them to answer the phones!” But as we started looking at the root causes for phones not being answered, it became clear why some phones aren’t answered or answered promptly.
On a clinic visit, we noted the clerk, who was checking veterans in for their appointments, was also responsible for answering the phone. The phone rang; the clerk looked back and forth, between the veteran and the phone, trying to decide which was more important. This was unfair to the veterans and the clerks.
As a result of veteran feedback and our own observations, we now have clerks dedicated to checking veterans in for their appointments while others are dedicated to answering the phones. This should reduce some of the frustration for veterans as well as our employees.
Core values
Veterans were quick to praise their health-care teams who, they said, were competent and caring. We have many hard working, dedicated employees who demonstrate our core values of integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence. Those values aren’t words on paper to them; they drive how they care for veterans, their family members, their coworkers.
Late last year, Phoenix VA Health Care System employees worked with Long Beach VA employees to transfer a patient from Long Beach to Phoenix so that he could be closer to his family over the holidays.
A Long Beach employee wrote: “We couldn't have been able to help this veteran if everyone had not gone an extra mile to make this happen. I am told that the patient and his family are very appreciative and want to say thank you to all of you. The entire family was really looking forward to having him home for the holidays.”
The veterans also noted there were employees, on the other hand, who were rude and disrespectful. Veterans and their loved ones should never experience disrespectful behavior. This is just not acceptable and we need to help those employees improve if they want to remain part of this organization.
Schedule vigilance
VA data shows about 94 percent of Phoenix VA Health Care System veterans get an appointment within 30 days. That’s good, and we work hard every day to get the number higher. However, we worry about the remaining 6 percent. They need care in a timely manner with us or in the community.
Veterans who attended town hall meetings told us appointments are canceled, and often without advance notice. Some veterans reported they only learned of an appointment when they received the reminder postcards. These practices aren’t in line with our standards and won’t help veterans get care.
All of our schedulers attend regular training and in March we held an additional session focused on our expectations about scheduling practices and processes. We’ll continue this training until it’s no longer needed.
We’ve learned a lot. Much more than what’s written here. Improvement has become our purpose. We need to tackle the tough systems issues. We also need to tackle the more difficult people issues. Staffing is one part of the equation — we’ve added some 80 employees this year, after adding some 300 last year. Making sure they are in the right places and with the right values are the other parts of the equation.
How will we gauge when we are making progress? When we’ve succeeded? As much as we would like to be able to point to some data and declare success — that’s not the right report card for us. The right report card is what the veterans and others tell us. We’re listening.