The time a veteran waits in Hawaii and other parts of the Pacific to see a primary care doctor for the first time has dropped to 35 days — a reduction from 110 days since May 15, the head of the system said.
Wayne Pfeffer, director of the Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Health Care System, also said in a letter to Hawaii’s congressional delegation that the number of patients on an electronic waitlist for care decreased from more than 1,800 new patients to 37 as of Tuesday.
Pfeffer said June 16 that he hoped to reduce the wait time for new patients to 30 days within three months.
"We operate a very complex organization responsible for providing health care to the multiple Hawaiian Islands, American Samoa and Guam," Pfeffer said in the letter. "Staffing for critical positions is especially challenging due to the remoteness of some areas and the relatively small numbers of medical professionals residing in these locations. Challenges are being addressed by intensified recruitment of staff, greater use of telemedicine, and rotation of staff to the islands."
Nationally the VA still is struggling to regain trust after long patient delays were covered up. The department more recently has been slow to fire senior managers implicated in the scandal.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said the shorter wait times in Hawaii and the Pacific are encouraging, "but it is critical that we keep the pressure on to make further progress."
"It is important to remember that the nationwide scandal had to do with the manipulation of data, so we will independently verify these numbers," he said.
"Additionally, we need to ensure that the system has been reformed so that the reduced wait time can be sustained."
Pfeffer was traveling Thursday and unavailable for comment, the VA said.
Meanwhile, "Choice" cards started going out this week to about 300,000 veterans who live at least 40 miles from a VA hospital or clinic. Another 370,000 cards will be sent out starting Nov. 17 to veterans who have waited more than 30 days for an appointment. The cards allow those veterans to seek VA-paid health care from a local doctor instead.
The improved access to outside care is a key feature of a law Congress passed over the summer to reduce patient wait times and address other problems at the VA.
The Washington Times said the VA already missed a Tuesday deadline to have mailed out the Choice cards, which will go out now and extending into next year.
Pete Hegseth, chief executive officer of Concerned Veterans for America, criticized the VA in an opinion piece Thursday in Military Times.
"What happens to a senior VA executive who pressures lower-level employees to falsify scheduling records, retaliates against honest employees who raise questions and pockets six-figure bonuses while veterans can’t get doctors’ appointments and even die while waiting for care?" Hegseth asked.
"If you think that person gets fired or faces criminal charges, you’re mistaken. The correct answer is this: They get a six-month paid vacation," he said.
Three months after the new VA reform law took effect, just one VA executive has lost a job, he said.
As part of the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014, signed into law in August, the VA received approval for a lease to provide an outpatient clinic in Leeward Oahu with a projected opening date of 2021, Pfeffer said.
Pfeffer said he is addressing the timeliness of beneficiary travel.
A "sizeable backlog" of reimbursement payments last year has been "reduced considerably," he said.
"We are presently hiring added staff to address the delays in both mileage reimbursement and commercial reimbursement to include airline, ground transportation and lodging," Pfeffer said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
