Veterans Affairs: overview and key operations

Healthcare Reform

Reform and Electronic Medical Records

An Interview with Bernie Saunders

"Imagine a world where everything important about a patient is known to the physician the first time that patient presents," says Andrew Rubin, vice president for NYU Medical Center Clinical Affairs and Affiliates in New York City (Mann, N.d.).

When doctors have complete and accurate record of the patient's medical health history they have the potential to reduce errors and improve patient care. There are many cases in which a patient may not be able to understand or recall many of the things that pertain to their own care. Having a comprehensive record that can be updated in real time and transferred to and from health care providers electronically could provide major improvements in the quality of care. There would be less chance that a diagnosis is missed because of missing information. "We need to be able to implement an electronic medical record where physicians can talk to each other about patients, and hospitals and physicians can communicate back and forth and share critical information on tests done and previous diagnoses, so that everyone involved has the patient's medical history at their fingertips (Mann, N.d.)."

Personal Opinions

The Veterans that have served the nation have been relatively neglected in their healthcare service after they return home. Although our nation spends the most on defense spending than any other country in the world, it somehow cannot seem to contribute an adequate amount of resources to take care of the healthcare needs of the soldiers when they return home. The veteran population has a much higher rate of physical and mental diseases and disorders than the general public and definitely represents an at risk population.

Despite the sacrifices and the services that these soldiers provide for the country, the political establishment does not have enough political will to reform the system to provide adequate care for these soldiers. A Department of Veterans Affairs audit has found that the VA's medical scheduling issues go far beyond the Phoenix VA facility, with more than 57,000 veterans nationwide waiting more than 90 days for medical check-ups after making their initial appointments; an additional 64,000 veterans over the last decade were found to have never had medical appointments after having enrolled in the VA health care system (Martinez, 2014). The system definitely needs reform and establishing an electronic medical records system could be one of the operational improvements that could assist in establishing better service to veterans.

Bernie Sanders and EMR

Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders, right, and House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller have crafted a bipartisan deal to improve veterans' health care that would authorize at least $17 billion to fix the health program scandalized by long patient wait times and falsified records covering up delays (AP, 2014).

Representative Sanders, you worked diligently for well over six weeks crafting this bill, why is this issue so important to you?

"Funding for veterans' needs must be considered a 'cost of war' and appropriated as emergency spending," Sanders said. "Planes and tanks and guns are a cost of war. So is taking care of the men and women who fight our battles (AP, 2014)."

What are your constituents most concerned about regarding health care reform?

The constituents in Vermont are definitely appalled at the lack of healthcare that has been given to our Veterans. Not providing this population with adequate healthcare after they return home to their families is both morally wrong as well as an ineffective policy. If many of these soldiers were provided adequate care, then they could return to the workforce as civilians and led relatively normal lives. Instead they are ignored and neglected by the ill equipped Veterans Administration (VA). The VA has been the subject of many scandals in fabricating data to mislead the public about have grave the situation for veterans really is.

What reforms are target with the 17 billion dollars requested?

The bill includes $10 billion in emergency spending to make it easier for veterans who can't get prompt appointments with VA doctors to obtain outside care; $5 billion to hire doctors, nurses and other medical staff; and about $1.5 billion to lease 27 new clinics across the country, lawmakers said (AP, 2014). The bill also would expand a scholarship program for veterans, allow all veterans to qualify for in-state college tuition and grant the VA secretary authority to immediately fire senior executives, while providing employees with streamlined appeal rights.