Survey finds doctor’s visit for vets averages 7 months

WASHINGTON – Patients in the veterans health care system wait an average of seven months to see a primary care doctor, the American Legion reported after questioning its members.

A second Persian Gulf War would increase the number of future patients and make the backlog worse, the legion’s national commander said.

This was the first time the national veterans group surveyed its members across the country on waiting times. The Legion did not attempt to take a scientific sample but rather sought anecdotal evidence between last November and Feb. 21 to bolster a lobbying campaign for more veterans health dollars.

The results from more than 3,100 respondents, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, were to be released Tuesday. Some 1,500 leaders of the Legion and affiliated organizations are meeting in Washington and fanning out throughout the Capitol complex to lobby lawmakers for higher appropriations.

The Legion’s national commander, Ronald Conley of Pittsburgh, said the survey also found:

. The average wait to see a doctor after arriving at a Veterans Affairs clinic is 1.6 hours.

. About 58 percent of respondents had an appointment rescheduled by the VA, triggering an average wait of 2.6 months for the new appointment.

. About 11 percent of respondents said they were denied long-term care. That result was based on 2,800 responses.

However, some veterans who did get medical care gave high marks to their doctors and facilities.

Dr. Robert Roswell, the VA’s undersecretary for health, said, “There’s no question that waiting times are a significant problem, but we’re trying to resolve them.”

In July 2002, a VA survey found close to 318,000 veterans who were likely to wait more than half a year to see a doctor. That number dropped to around 236,000 by December and 202,000 last month. In more than half the cases, veterans could not be given an appointment date, but were placed on a waiting list for longer than six months.

Roswell said the agency is taking a number of steps to improve the waiting times, including ensuring that all primary care doctors carry full loads of 1,200 patients; home care visits by health professionals; interactive web sites to allow patients to chat with doctors; home monitoring equipment connected to VA facilities; and group appointments for patients with similar ailments, such as diabetes.

If budget requests are met, the VA wants to hire 1,000 additional physicians and improve salary scales.

Conley said some veterans are in worse situations than the survey indicated, because “a lot of clinics can’t handle more patients so they refuse to sign veterans up.”

He said President Bush is likely to fall into the same trap as past presidents, who failed to account for a new war’s increase in veterans who will later use the VA health system.

Conley, who has been visiting facilities across the country, said that in Cheyenne, Wyo., veterans who signed up for a primary care appointment in September received appointments for this June.

In Minneapolis, he found that 11,000 veterans waited a year to see a primary care doctor. At the Togas, Maine, VA Medical Center, 1,800 veterans waited up to two years; in Bay Pines, Fla., about 16,000 waited a year.

Demands on veterans health care facilities have risen dramatically in recent years, growing by 54 percent since a 1996 law made all veterans eligible to receive medical care. The secretary of Veterans Affairs, Anthony Principi, said last month the system is expected to serve 4.8 million patients in the fiscal year beginning in October.

President Bush’s 2004 budget includes $27.5 billion for veterans medical care, a 7.7 percent increase over the current fiscal year.