The director of the Veterans Affairs' healthcare system in New Mexico acknowledged Friday that efforts to see patients more quickly have fallen short.
"We want to see our patients as close to the time as they preferred to be seen and have been working continuously to get better," Andrew Welch told reporters at a Friday afternoon news conference. "Our efforts thus far have been good but not good enough."
Reacting to AP reports that found a VA clinic in northwestern New Mexico ranks among the worst in the nation when it comes to the percentage of appointments that were delayed a month or longer and some others also ranked near the top, Welch outlined steps the VA has taken and will embark on to shorten wait times.
Welch said the local VA is "redoubling" its efforts to find solutions as it serves 60,000 New Mexico veterans via its medical center in Albuquerque and 13 rural clinics, where over the past few years it has expanded services.
The New Mexico VA has set up a dedicated telephone line for veterans whose appointments are more than 30 days out; it is opening in May a larger clinic in Gallup, will add a fourth provider in Rio Rancho, and evaluate whether to add another doctor at the Farmington clinic, Welch said.
The local VA is examining clinic profiles, availability of appointments and looking for openings for patients, he added.
The news conference was "absolutely a response" to AP reports about delays at 940 VA hospitals and outpatient clinics across the U.S. and at New Mexico facilities where wait times were particularly long.
While VA officials say they're doing their best to expand services in rural areas where recruiting is a challenge, advocates say more needs to be done quickly.
The AP examined wait times at the VA hospitals and outpatient clinics across the U.S. to see how things might have improved since a scandal over delays and attempts to cover them up led to the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and prompted lawmakers in August to pass the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act.
The Farmington clinic ranked sixth on the list with more than 14% of appointments delayed 31 days or longer over a six-month period. That's more than five times the national average.
Two other New Mexico clinics, in Santa Fe and Rio Rancho, and the hospital in Albuquerque, also ranked near the top of the list of VA facilities where patients are most likely to encounter long delays. However, numbers for February showed improvements in wait times at most of the facilities.
"We're doing a deep dive in all the areas," Welch said, "especially the (clinics that) fell out on the list."
"We want to get it right, and we want to keep it right," Welch told reporters at the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center in Albuquerque.
He said the local VA is the process of hiring a physician recruiter to speed up the filling of healthcare provider jobs. But then he said that the clinics were mostly staffed.
President Barack Obama signed legislation last August giving the VA an additional $16.3 billion to hire doctors, open more clinics and build the new Choice program that allows vets facing long delays to get care from a private-sector doctor.
Welch said 3,000 New Mexico veterans are on an eligibility list for the Choice program and most all the veterans in the state have been issued a Choice card.; 500 of the 3,000 veterans have chosen the option to get private care.
New Mexico VA received about $6.7 million as part of the effort and the money which has been used to remedy staffing shortages, officials said.
