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BOSTON: THE VA PLAN NO ONE SUPPORTS --
"Any plan that jeopardizes the healthcare
options for our vets is a bad one."
Story here...
http://www.townonline.com/
roslindale/homepage/8998981732938022911
Story below:
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VA plan no one supports
By Jessica M. Smith
With the four Boston-area VA hospitals facing potential consolidations,
the Massachusetts congressional delegation met privately last Thursday
with VA Secretary Jim Nicholson.
Nicholson is the man who will ultimately decide the fate of the
facilities that may be combined as part of the VA’s Capital Assessment
Realignment for Enhanced Services program.
CARES is the VA’s nationwide initiative to streamline the facilities
where those who have served in the country’s armed forces receive
medical services. In addition to the sites in Boston that include West
Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Bedford and Brockton, the VA is evaluating
hospitals in 17 other cities. Boston has been under consideration since
2004.
Currently, Nicholson is waiting on a recommendation from the consulting
firm PricewaterhouseCoopers about what to do with the Boston medical
centers. The PwC study, which in September was estimated to cost $10.6
million, is looking at whether West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain and
Bedford and Brockton should be combined. Another possibility is that the
hospitals that all provide unique services could be left alone.
For Rep. John Tierney, D-6th,whose district includes the Bedford VA, the
fact that consolidation is being considered is unacceptable.
“[Consolidation] has been rejected in the past, back in 2004. Since
then, PwC went out and broadened out the scope without the mandate to do
so,” said Tierney last week before meeting with Nicholson.
For the delegation, which included senators Edward M. Kennedy and John
F. Kerry and representatives Michael Capuano, Bill Delahunt, Stephen
Lynch, Edward Markey, Marty Meehan and Tierney, it was an opportunity to
voice their strong opposition to consolidation.
“As a delegation, we continue to be disappointed by the VA’s push to
consolidate our VA facilities and cut back on services for our
veterans,” said Lynch, D-9th, whose district includes the West Roxbury
VA.
“I will not support any proposal that will reduce the health-care
options available to veterans in Massachusetts,” said Kennedy, who added
that he thought it was unfair for those who make sacrifices in Iraq and
Afghanistan to have to sacrifice their health care when then return.
“Any plan that jeopardizes the health-care options for our vets is a bad
one. So is the idea of closing any VA medical facility while our country
is engaged in a war that pushes our soldiers into three and four tours
of combat duty,” added Kerry.
A PwC presentation given in September to the public in Brockton said
that the study’s estimated completion date was last month, which would
have allowed Nicholson to deliberate this month. Now, according to the
VA, the study will be finished sometime this spring.
According to a congressional aide close to the proceedings, PwC is now
expected to complete their work in March or April, and the secretary
will make his decision this summer. It was unknown whether PwC has
exceeded its budget or why the study was still ongoing. Until then, the
aide said that the Massachusetts senators and congressmen would continue
to voice their concerns.
Jessica Smith can be reached at
jsmith@cnc.com.
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Larry Scott
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