NEWS

VA employees rail against privatization push

John Hult
jhult@argusleader.com
Protesters with the American Federation of Government Employees hold signs for passing cars on 22nd Street in Sioux Falls on July 26, 2016. The protesters are opposed to proposals to integrate the VA Health System with private providers.

A group of VA Health System employees gathered along 22nd Street in Sioux Falls Tuesday to protest a set of proposals they say would weaken care for the nation’s veterans.

The protesters, holding signs that read “VA Workers for a Strong VA,” hoped to draw attention to the Washington, D.C.-based Commission on Care’s final report. The report offered 18 recommendations for improving the quality of care nationwide, but the most contentious involves moving toward a community-based system that partners the VA with private health care providers.

The VA needs staffing, support and funding, the workers said - not privatization.

“I don’t believe that privatizing the VA is in the best interests of veterans,” said Maxine Schaff, a 31-year employee of the VA Hospital in Sioux Falls and 10-year President of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1509.

Moving away from a team-based system of care that ties together mental health and medical care under the same umbrella would mean a more fractured and less veteran-focused system, Schaff said.

RELATED: Extensive public-private VA health care system proposed in final report

“We have a unique population with unique needs,” Schaff said.

The AFGE bristles at the notion that the VA is a floundering agency, pointing to a Vet Voice Foundation Survey from November of 2015 in which 80 percent of veterans said they didn’t want voucher-based health care.

Boosters have also pointed to an American Psychiatric Association report from 2014 saying the VA’s mental health services outperformed the private sector care by 30 percent in every category.

That scandal that gave rise to the Commission on Care also came in 2014. Patients at the Phoenix VA Medical Center were waiting months to see doctors, but records were altered to make it appear as though the agency was hitting its wait time targets.

The final report came after 10 months of study and recommends a road map for the next two decades. The recommendations cover workforce management, health care equity, supply chain, clinical operations and information technology issues, saying the system cannot survive on its current trajectory without intervention.

The most controversial aspect of it is the “VHA Care System,” which would close poorly-performing or underused hospitals and clinics and create a nationwide network of public and private providers.

An information table from the American Federation of Government Employees on 22nd Street in Sioux Falls on July 26, 2016. The protesters are opposed to proposals to integrate the VA Health System with private providers.

The VHA Care System would represent an expansion of the Veteran’s Choice program, under which veterans can use their VA coverage at outside facilities if the wait for a VA visit is 30 days or more or the nearest clinic is 40 miles away or further.

The system envisions a Veterans Choice without restrictions.

The Choice program’s implementation has not been without controversy. Fewer veterans than expected have opted to use the program, and some who have used it have reported problems with payments. Sen. Mike Rounds introduced legislation this month to protect the credit ratings of veterans who use the program but see delays in reimbursements or charges for out-of-system care.

The VA Health System in Sioux Falls employs more than 1,000 people and cares for 28,000 veterans, with satellite clinics in Watertown, Aberdeen, Wagner, Sioux City, Iowa, and Spirit Lake, Iowa.

The Sioux Falls facility has not been the focus of closure efforts, the VA Black Hills Health Care System in Hot Springs has faced scrutiny in recent years.

Rounds and Congresswoman Kristi Noem have both pushed back against possible cuts to the Hot Springs VA. The system has lost dozens of employees, and Noem wrote in her Friday column that the VA “has incrementally depleted the number of services offered in Hot Springs and pushed forward a plan to close the facility altogether.”

“Like so many of South Dakota’s veterans, I have been extremely disappointed with the choices VA leadership has made during the implementation of reforms, which is why accountability measures, like the Commission, are so critical," Noem said Tuesday. "I will be thoroughly reviewing the Commission’s recommendations over the coming weeks and working with veterans groups in the state to assess which steps should be taken next.”

Protesters with the American Federation of Government Employees hold signs for passing cars on 22nd Street in Sioux Falls on July 26, 2016. The protesters are opposed to proposals to integrate the VA Health System with private providers.

Army Veteran Sam Lopez picked up a sign to stand with protesters Tuesday afternoon outside the Sioux Falls VA. Lopez appreciates the hospital’s care for veterans, but doesn’t think the providers there have gotten enough support from Washington, D.C.

“They’re trying to do so much with so little, and they need more – not less – from our government so they can keep their promises to veterans,” Lopez said.

Lopez has used Veterans Choice for mammograms, which are not offered at the Sioux Falls campus, but she prefers the holistic approach taken at the VA and worries about changes that would push veterans out of the system.

“Choice is a good thing, but it has to be that,” Lopez said. “We should have a choice about Choice.”

John Hult is the Reader's Watchdog reporter for Argus Leader Media. Contact him with questions and concerns at 605-331-2301, 605-370-8617twitter.com/ArgusJHult   or  Facebook.com/ArgusReadersWatchdog