NEWS FROM….

CONGRESSMAN LANE EVANS

RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

    U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Washington – "I hear from veterans every day that waiting times are too long for VA [Department of Veterans Affairs] health care," said Congressman Lane Evans of Illinois, the Ranking Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. "Congress has allocated funding to cut these delays. I am concerned to learn from a new study I requested that VA lacks accurate data on what causes these delays and what to do about them."

Evans today released a General Accounting Office (GAO) report done at his request to assess veterans’ waiting times for VA health care. The report examined the accuracy of VA data on waiting times and VA’s strategies for reducing them.

"We had effective communications with the White House and VA this year that led to a solid budget proposal," said Evans. "I was pleased to see that the budget addressed waiting times, but we need to ensure initiatives to reduce veterans delays for VA health care are effective. It turns out that VA has not done adequate planning to determine how best to use this funding to ensure it meets its goals for reducing waiting times."

The GAO published report, "Veterans’ Health Care: VA Needs Better Data on Extent and Causes of Waiting Times," indicates that although there is ample anecdotal evidence about waiting times, VA currently lacks the data to identify how long veterans must wait to receive appointments for different types of care. VA is in the process of putting better systems into place to assess the problem.

"My concern," Evans said, "is that without adequate measures of current waiting times, VA funding may not have the greatest impact in reducing waiting times for health care by veterans. It will also be impossible to assess whether initiatives have actually achieved the goals of reducing waiting times."

Evans was hopeful, however, that VA could accurately determine current waiting times and reduce them significantly. "This is an area where VA has clearly acknowledged a problem and is in the process of correcting it. I am eager to work with VA. I continue to encourage Congress to provide VA adequate resources to implement well-planned interventions that will reduce the waits of more than 100 days for care some veterans now report they must face."

Evans also indicated his satisfaction with the GAO report. "GAO has given the Department useful guidance about addressing VA data problems and planning more effectively to target resources to initiatives to resolve waiting times," he said. VA has agreed to address many of the concerns GAO raised.

"Health care services must be timely to meet the mark of high quality and be most effective," said Evans. "We want to make sure that VA provides veterans the right care at the right time in the right place. Implementing GAO’s recommendations will help VA meet this goal for veterans. These men and women have given this Nation so much. Surely, we can give them the care they need when they need it."