KHN / 03.12.2016 –
According to the report, schedulers often listed the first available date that a patient could be seen as the date that a patient had wanted to be seen. Meanwhile, a new report says more Agent Orange research is long overdue.
An internal Department of Veterans Affairs investigation found that schedulers in Texas routinely misreported when patients actually wanted to see a doctor or get some other type of care, making it impossible to track delays in the care they received. The report released Tuesday by the VA’s Office of Inspector General tracks problems in clinics and medical facilities in central and South Texas. (Weissert, 3/10)
More than two decades of studying Agent Orange exposure hasn’t produced a solid understanding of how the toxic herbicide has harmed Vietnam War veterans and possibly their children, according to a report released Thursday. Additional research is long overdue, the report said, but the federal government hasn’t done it. (Hixenbaugh and Ornstein, 3/10)