The director of the VA Health Care System in Sioux Falls says South Dakota doesn’t have the wait list problems plaguing other veterans hospitals nationwide.
The Veterans Affairs inspector general believes the scandal is systemic. Federal reports show workers at some VA locations around the country lied about treatment for veterans and falsified records to reflect shorter wait times than veterans encountered.
Sioux Falls VA Health Care System Director Darwin Goodspeed says that didn’t happen – and isn’t happening – in his hospital.
"We have worked with all of our scheduling staff. We’ve asked those questions, we’ve looked, and there are no secret waiting lists," Goodspeed says. "And we are working very closely with other VAs to make sure that anything we can do to support them and address their needs we’re doing."
Goodspeed says audit teams visited Sioux Falls and reviewed the VA’s scheduling processes. He says they don’t recommend any corrective actions and in some cases applaud Sioux Falls’ work.
Goodspeed says wait times are inevitable in health care, but the Sioux Falls VA can use private partners to get veterans treatment they need if it’s inaccessible at the VA.
The Sioux Falls VA serves about 28,000 veterans each year. Goodspeed says the number of patients has been steady during the past five years, but those veterans are aging, so they require additional services.
United States Senator Tim Johnson wants millions in federal dollars designated to the investigation into a waiting list scandal in some Veterans hospitals. The South Dakota Democrat is chair of the Senate Military Construction and Veterans Affairs subcommittee. The committee supports Johnson's provision to dedicate $5 million toward a review of scheduling procedures, waiting times and management practices at all VA medical centers.
"We need to understand the entire scope of the problems. While we know that the inspector general believes that problems in Phoenix are systemic, I am mindful that throughout the country, including here in South Dakota, there are also VA employees providing our nation’s vets with quality, timely health care," Johnson says.
Johnson says he feels members of Congress have a newfound willingness to work together to care for American veterans.