Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald and Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson have highlighted VA’s ongoing efforts to transform its healthcare system during a meeting with the Commission on Care in Washington, The Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday.
Ben Thompson writes the MacDonald and Gibson told the commission that 90 percent of veterans who responded to a survey said they are “satisfied” or “completely satisfied” with the length of waiting time at VA hospitals.
However, a new Government Accountability Office report says the current VA system does not address the primary care needs of all newly enrolled veterans, according to Thompson’s article.
The report said GAO also found a wide variation in the amount of time newly enrolled veterans waited to receive primary care at several VA medical centers.
McDonald said at the Commission on Care meeting the department aims to address veterans’ care access challenges through MyVA initiative, Military Times’ Patricia Kime reports.
He informed the panel that VA also seeks budget flexibility from Congress to implement other healthcare transformation measures.
“We can change the system if we get the legislation we need… but getting someone [in Congress] to work on the future has been difficult,” he added, according to Military Times.