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(Reuters Health) – In many cases, veterans get a first appointment at a VA hospital faster than the general public, for the first time with a health care provider, government researchers report.
Researchers, all from the VA, compared waiting times for new patients with new patients in the private sector, determined by an outside firm that used "secret buyers" to determine the time it would take to get a first appointment with various types of doctors.
"The VA sees more patients than ever before, and at the same time, faster than ever," said co-author of the study, Dr. Steven Lieberman, senior under-secretary for health at the Veterans Health Administration. "And veterans are more and more satisfied with wait times than before."
Since the publication of a critical report by the Inspector General of the VA and a public outcry regarding the deaths of veterans potentially because of the long waiting times at the ## 147 ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Phoenix facility – reports reported an average wait time of 115 days – the agency made an extra effort so that veterans could see a doctor sooner, said Lieberman.
The new study, published in the JAMA Network Open, was an opportunity to see if there had been any overall improvements in wait times and also to see how the VA compared to caregivers private sector health.
Lieberman and colleagues looked at new wait times for primary care, dermatology, cardiology, and orthopedic appointments at VA medical centers in 15 major metropolitan areas in 2014 and 2017. For comparison, the researchers turned to a survey published by Merritt Hawkins that used a secret client approach. evaluate wait times in the private sector in these same 15 metropolitan areas. Veterans' records were included in the study if they lived within 50 miles of one of these metropolitan areas.
Overall, average wait times at the VA were comparable to those in the private sector in 2014: 18.7 days to obtain this first appointment with a private sector physician versus 22, 5 days to see a doctor from the VA.
That changed in 2017. The average wait for veterans was 17.7 days, compared to 29.8 days in the private sector. Similar results were observed for three of the four subspecialties investigated by the researchers: primary care, 20 days at VA and 40.7 days in the private sector; dermatology, 15.6 vs. 22.6; and cardiology, 15.3 versus 22.8.
Wait times for orthopedics, which had been longer for the VA than for the private sector in 2014, continued on this trend in 2017, with veterans waiting an average of 20.9 days to consult. a specialist in orthopedics, compared to 12.4 days for those looking for an appointment in the private sector. .
But by looking only at veterans living within 50 miles of metropolitan areas, the study was unable to report wait times for veterinarians in rural areas. Lieberman and his colleagues say the study was designed in this way, so it would be comparable to private sector data from the Merritt Hawkins survey.
The VA is trying to improve access to rural areas through telemedicine, Lieberman said. "We offer virtual appointments to veterans who live in areas of the country where it is difficult to hire clinicians, especially those in rural areas," he said. "These are done on a computer at home or more and more on a smart phone."
Although the new study is interesting, "there are two important omissions among the most criticized things: mental health and rural America," said Albert Wu, professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School. public health. "As a quarter of veterans live in rural areas, I'm afraid I can not get information on this document."
SOURCE: bit.ly/2CvG5SJ JAMA Network open, online January 18, 2019.
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