I am a provider for veterans through Tricare/Triwest, and optum. I have been working with veterans for around 40 years. The Department of Veteran’s affairs needs an overhaul. There is good care for some but it is hit and miss. In Indiana a veteran has to wait 4 months to see a provider for mental health. The provider payment system is in total chaos between triwest, tricare, humana, optum and all the data dumps going on as the VA keeps switching their payment processes. It seems like the VA cannot keep good professionals because they either run off the good ones who advocate for the veteran or the good ones gets tired of the garbage and leaves. Our veterans deserves better. A good complete review might help fix things before trying a total overhaul but something must change.
I’ve been in the VA system for 7 years now and I’ve only had a Primary Care for a total of about 6-9 months. Currently, I still don’t have one.
(Just to provide additional anecdotal)
Correct me if I am wrong. I was under the impression that sometime in the past, maybe Trump #1 changed it so a Veteran could go to any provider if they have to wait more than 20 days. Is it just a case of providers not wanting to take Veterans a patients? BY the way, THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE.
" Rules established under the law and published Wednesday in the Federal Register say the VA will pay for veterans to see non-VA doctors if they have to wait longer than 20 days or drive more than 30 minutes for primary or mental healthcare at a VA facility."
I am not a medical expert, and I am not recommending anything, but Rick Perry, Ex-Governor of Texas is really behind something called ibogaine.
“Stanford Medicine researchers find that ibogaine, a plant-based psychoactive compound, safely led to improvements in depression, anxiety and functioning among veterans with traumatic brain injuries.”
The pay at the VA is low and there’s very little incentive to retain clinicians