Hawaii congressional delegates angry about delays

Local Veterans Affairs officials claimed after an inspection of Hawaii clinics last month that there were no significant scheduling issues, but findings released nationally Monday showed Hono­lulu had the worst delays for new patients in the entire VA system.

VA spokeswoman Patricia Matthews told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that local clinics got a positive review and "there were no scheduling practice issues brought to light" — sentiments that VA officials repeated to Hawaii’s congressional delegation.

Turns out Matthews and the other VA officials were wrong — by a long shot.

A Veterans Health Administration audit, in fact, shows that Hono­lulu veterans experienced the worst wait-time average in the entire system — 145 days — to get their first appointment with a primary care physician.

Neither Matthews nor any other representative for Hono­lulu’s Spark M. Matsu­naga VA Medical Center at Tripler Army Medical Center responded to repeated requests for comment Monday.

Monday’s findings follow accusations of gross mismanagement at VA centers across the country that led to the resignation in May of Hawaii-born hometown war hero Eric Shinseki as VA secretary. And they particularly angered Hawaii’s congressional delegation, which had been given a generally rosy picture last month of veterans’ wait times in Hono­lulu.

"I would like to believe that they did not intentionally misrepresent to us," said U.S. Rep. Colleen Hana­busa, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

The 145-day delay in getting an initial appointment with a primary care physician could be the result of servicing veterans in Hono­­lulu from as far away as American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mari­ana Islands — but that point was not made clear by VA officials to Hawaii’s senators and congresswomen, Hana­busa said.

"The question is whether or not we were intentionally misled," she said. "Until I can get a better sense of that, I’m going to stick with the statement that no one should be asked to wait 145 days for an appointment with a primary care physician. That is inexcusable."

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a captain in the Hawaii National Guard who served two combat tours, blasted the VA for the disparity between the congressional briefings and the findings in Monday’s audit.

"I’m pretty angry, to be honest with you, about the difference in information we were given," Gabbard said. "The audit has painted a very different picture than the one that was represented to my office."

Gabbard plans to introduce legislation this week that would allow veterans to get private health care by showing their VA-issued identification cards.

"This is not a permanent solution," she said. "This is a temporary fix to an immediate crisis. And this is a crisis. There is no question about it."

Island entertainer Tommy D, who fought in Vietnam between 1966 and 1968 with the Army’s 196th Light Infantry Brigade, has been battling for VA services for veterans for decades, sometimes in the face of scorn and ridicule.

With Monday’s VA audit, Tommy D now feels torn.

"It’s just been so frustrating," he said. "I don’t feel vindicated at all. I feel mad. People called me a nonteam member and this and that for speaking out for veterans. Now I’m getting emails from the very same people who say, ‘Wow, you were right.’"

Retired Army Spc. Bryan Trumbower, 32, of Manoa, waited five weeks for an appointment with an ear, nose and throat specialist at the Matsu­naga VA Medical Center for a painful and persistent sinus and ear infection — after first waiting weeks to see his primary physician in May 2013.

By the time Trumbower got in to see the specialist in July, Trumbower’s symptoms had eased, and the specialist saw little evidence of an infection.

"I was so angry and frustrated by that time," he said. "I don’t belive the public is aware of how bad it actually is. The perception is that it’s just a few bad eggs. But it’s horrific."

Retired Army Staff Sgt. John Towels works in Gabbard’s office as a Wounded Warrior Program fellow and is still waiting more than a year for his first appointment with a primary care physician at the Matsu­naga VA after signing up in May 2013.

"I still don’t have an appointment," he said. "It shouldn’t take this long to get the benefits that you’re entitled to. If you’re active duty and you’re feeling ill, you have access to same-day service, no questions asked. To then be told (as a veteran), ‘We’ll get you a primary care provider whenever we get around to it,’ it’s very frustrating, very infuriating. People gave years of their lives, sometimes body parts. They deserve more than this."

U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Armed Services committees, said the delays "are extremely troubling. … (We) need to get to bottom of what is going on in the VA system in order to take appropriate action."

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said he supports legislation authored by Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that would reallocate $500 million in unspent funds to hire new doctors and nurses and cut delays for veterans across the country.

The bill also would double the VA’s clinical capacity on Oahu by authorizing a $15 million lease for the Advance Leeward Outpatient Healthcare Access Center in the Ewa plain. The new center would reduce the demand on the Spark M. Matsu­naga VA Medical Center, Schatz said, and is designed to care for 15,000 veterans from the North Shore and Central Oahu.

But Gabbard said immediate action is needed to get medical care for America’s veterans in the islands.

"One hundred and forty five days to be able to see a doctor for the first time is unconscionable," Gabbard said. "There is no excuse."