|
Printer-Friendly Version
PRIVATIZING THE VA: OFFICIAL SAYS
OUTSOURCED
HEALTHCARE NOW COVERS 30 PERCENT OF VETERANS --
So-called "pilot program" now has private
contractors
gobbling up huge chunk of budget as VA hospitals
struggle.
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
Share story/email link.
-------------------------
by Larry Scott
In 2006, the VA started a pilot program called
Project HERO. The concept was to provide local care to rural
veterans. This would be done by paying private providers instead of
building more VA clinics where needed.
At that time I wrote that this was just another
step in privatizing the VA:
This is a lesson in political manipulation.
Give your program a compelling name: Project Hero. Tell people
that it will not do what it is really designed to do: Privatize VA
healthcare. Then, sit back and watch people buy into it. We
all know that veterans who live in rural areas need access to VA
healthcare. So, instead of building VA clinics and staffing them
with VA doctors and nurses...the VA, with the help and blessing of House
Vets' Chair Rep. Steve Buyer, is privatizing the system by providing
healthcare from private doctors at private hospitals.
(Complete article here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%20newsflashes
%20APR%2006/newsflash04-02-2006-1.htm )
Today, not three years later, we find out that
Project HERO has outsourced VA healthcare to 30% of the veteran
population. More on Project HERO here...
http://www.yourvabenef
its.org/sessearch.php?q=project+hero&op=ph
Not 3%... 30%... nearly one-third! "We do
cover 30 percent of the enrolled veteran population within the entire
country," said national [Project HERO] program manager Greg Eslinger.
This quote from the story below.
When first proposed, Project HERO was to be for
"rural" veterans and their "routine" healthcare needs. But, in the
story below, we see Project HERO is operating in Minneapolis / St. Paul
and providing specialty care.
A close look at the Project HERO web page on the
VA's site shows this change in the program. The page says,
"Project HERO is a pilot program that helps veterans access the health
care they need when specific medical expertise or technology isn't
available inside the VA health care system." So, we see that the
entire focus of the program has changed. Project HERO home page is
here...
http://www.va.gov/hac/hero/
The real kicker here is this: Who manages
Project HERO? Humana Veterans Healthcare Services. Who is the
head of this Humana group? Alfonzo Poteet, a former VA deputy
assistant secretary.
This is big business working to privatize the
VA... and VA officials handing out the checks. There's lots of money
to be made. How much? Here is an article from the Business
Section of the Milwaukee Journal titled, New Veterans unit could be big
business for Humana Inc. Article here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfJUN07/nf060507-1.htm
I've said this time and again... For every
veteran who receives privatized healthcare, the VA becomes that much
weaker. More on privatizing the VA here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.ph
p?q=privatize+privatizing&op=or
Fewer vets being seen at the VA means fewer
dollars for the VA... and more for private healthcare providers.
And, fewer dollars for the VA means cuts in care.
In the past few weeks we have been receiving reports of VA hospital
directors being told to "shed beds," that is, lower the patient census.
Along with this, some have been told to freeze hiring. Why?
Lack of funds.
Our retirees have already been through this.
Their military hospitals were closed and they were shoved in a HMO for
which some pay dearly... and which is having a difficult time finding
providers.
Is this the future of the VA, as well?
Below is a news story and a video that explains
Project HERO and includes the 30% quote.
Story here...
http://wcco.com/health/project.hero.veterans.2.939294
Story below:
---------------
Expanding Private Medical Care For Veterans
Dennis Douda
(WCCO)
There are 24 million military veterans in the United States. Current
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have made many Americans ask if we are
serving the veterans as well as they have served us. Project HERO, a
program launched in the Twin Cities three months ago, is an effort to do
that.
Marine Corporal Danny Glassic injured his neck 20 years ago while serving
in the military.
"I was partially paralyzed from the chest down for a couple months," said
Glassic.
 Amazingly,
he bounced back after therapy and was redeployed during the Gulf War. His
assignment was to guard the U.S. Airbase in Kuwait City.
While the tour of duty eventually ended, the pain of his injury did not.
It then flared out of control last fall.
"At that time my arm was going numb, tingling. It felt like somebody hit
me in the funny bone with a sledge hammer," Glassic said.
"We are going to have to replace, essentially, the damaged discs that he
has in his neck," said neurosurgeon Mahmoud Nagib. "And we'll be replacing
his discs [with] a cage."
Glassic is one of a growing number of veterans whose medical care is being
contracted out to the private sector. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA)
picks up the tab through Project HERO.
"We do cover 30 percent of the enrolled veteran population within the
entire country," said national program manager Greg Eslinger.
He said while the VHA medical system is building up its own
infrastructure, this is a great way to reduce wait times for those in need
of care now.
"The veterans have to be seen within 30 days," Eslinger said. "And [they]
actually have their appointments made [for them] and these companies
coordinate all of that for the veteran."
Abbott Northwestern Hospital has been treating about a hundred veterans a
month through the program. The payments are roughly along the lines of
Medicare reimbursement, which means it is not very profitable to
physicians, so the decision to participate went beyond Abbott's hospital
walls.
"Abbott Northwestern's medical staff is made up of a lot of private
practice physicians," said hospital president Jeff Peterson. "And a lot of
this care is provided in the physicians' office and may or may not end up
in the hospital. I want to congratulate all of them and thank them. They
stepped right up and said this is the right thing to do and we need to be
part of it."
Glassic's surgeon echoed that sentiment.
"My group is Neurosurgical Associates. We are nine members here," said
Nagib. "No exceptions. They are all eager to help."
The concept is to provide first-rate comprehensive care. Glassic said he's
been very impressed with Project HERO and with Nagib, the doctor assigned
to his case.
"To be honest with you, I was shocked," he said. "The people that I've
talked who have gone to [Dr. Nagib] say he's the best in the country. If
anybody's gonna be poking around in my neck I want it to be him."
The vast majority of veterans are still being treated at Veteran's Affairs
facilities. For instance, the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis handled
593,000 out-patient visits last year and another 8,000 in-patient
admissions.
However, if there is a rapid troop withdrawal from Iraq, the network of
private care services is in place and growing to meet the need. It's a
notion that makes Glassic proud to have been a Marine all over again.
"[Veterans] need to get the treatment they deserve," said Glassic. "Mainly
because they've given up so much. They're without their families for a
year, two years at a time. And [if they] come back a not get the
treatment? All they want to do is to get back to work and serve our
country in a different way."
Project HERO covers virtually every field of care from orthopedics to
obstetrics including dental care and mental health.
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
-------------------------
-------------------------
Please post your comments below on Google
Friend Connect. You must sign in. For larger view and work
area, click blue "expand" button in upper right corner of comment box.
-------------------------
Don't forget to read all of today's VA
News Flashes (click here)
Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage
(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home
Page) |
