Isle vets’ wait time cut by 2 weeks

The wait times were down by more than two weeks for military veterans seeking their first Veterans Affairs medical appointments, but Hawaii still leads the nation with the longest delays, according to data released Friday.

On May 15, in the midst of a nationwide scandal, the VA reported that Hawaii veterans waited an average of 145 days for their first appointment with a primary care physician.

By June 1 the Hawaii VA had reduced the wait time to an average of 130 days, according to the newly released nationwide VA data.

No other VA facility had wait times for new patients longer than 100 days. After Hono­lulu the next-worst facility for new patient delays was in Fayette­ville, N.C., which had an average wait time of 91 days.

Early this week Wayne Pfeffer, director of the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System, announced that — within the next three months — he hopes to dramatically reduce the wait time for new patients to just 30 days.

Following the release of Friday’s data, Pfeffer said, "It’s very exciting. It looks like our plans are coming together nicely."

But U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was skeptical about the new numbers.

Gabbard called for Pfeffer to be fired following a June 5 briefing in which she said Pfeffer misled congressional staff members to believe the original wait times were 30 days — not the 145 the VA reported just four days later.

"Given the dishonesty and incompetence I have experienced, I find it hard to trust this information, or celebrate this news, given that under the VA’s best-case scenario, veterans today are still waiting more than four months to see a doctor for the first time," Gabbard said in an email. "These wait times could have dangerous or even deadly consequences; sadly, I know that if they weren’t veterans, they could receive care from private doctors much faster. The VA must fix its systemic issues — in the meantime, our veterans must be allowed to see primary care doctors immediately, outside the VA system, so that not a single veteran has to wait another day to receive care."

Pfeffer said that during his nine months on the job, there has been an increase in doctors’ patient loads to 1,300 from 1,200. In addition, there has been an increase in evening and weekend clinic hours that, in part, have helped cut patient wait times, he said.

Pfeffer also encouraged veterans to call their doctors if they need to cancel appointments, rather than simply not showing up, which frees up slots for fellow veterans.

"It all helps result in a drop in the average waiting time," Pfeffer said.

The Honolulu VA has five full-time doctors and several part-timers who add up to the equivalent of seven full-time doctors. But one is going to take a higher-paying job in Texas, and another is retiring to the East Coast. Pfeffer is recruiting doctors as replacements and to increase the size of the VA’s physician staff to equal 10 full-time doctors, plus an additional doctor on Guam.

"There are a lot of things in effect," he said. "It’s certainly in line with that plan to be down to 30 days in three months. So I’m hopeful we can do that."

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hana­busa spoke with Pfeffer on Friday and said, "Feedback from Hawaii’s veterans and the information that we gather will be the foundation for our plan to fix the VA system in Hawaii. We need solutions, immediately, because we made a promise to our veterans in exchange for their sacrifices. Now is the time to address the root problems at the VA and get our veterans the care they deserve by tailoring the system to meet their needs."

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono said she’s planning a still-unscheduled session in Hawaii to hear from veterans, the VA and private providers to learn "what is happening on the ground to reduce wait times and improve care and what more we need to do together to fix this situation."

Hirono, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, called the reduction in VA wait times "a step in the right direction," but "it is still unacceptable that Hawaii has wait times for new patients over 100 days."