Rep. Tim Walz, a National Guard veteran and co-chair of the USO Congressional Caucus, spoke to USO volunteers in Washington on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Tim Walz is backing the GOP-led efforts to investigate a growing scandal over Veterans Affairs clinics wait times around the U.S., but he isn’t concerned about the performance of Minnesota’s VA services.
Walz, a Democrat, said the House’s oversight effort “has been really good,” and he wished President Obama had acted more quickly to address the problems.
“Not for me, I don’t think, but I don’t think administrations ever act swiftly enough, especially for things like this,” he said.
Last week, Walz, a National Guard veteran, toured some of the state’s VA hospital locations to talk about their patients’ wait times. There had been no evidence VA clinics in Minnesota utilized “secret” wait lists like those that hid lengthy wait times — and veterans’ deaths because of them — at a VA clinic in Phoenix, Walz said, but even so, he asked officials to divulge their wait times anyway.
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“We asked point blank: Is there a secret list? And the answer is no, and all data seems to support that,” he said.
Officials gave Walz a brief report detailing wait time goals at three central and southern Minnesota VA clinics (found here). According to the report, many of the clinics are meeting their goals, though veterans are still waiting more than a month for certain specialized services.
On May 1, according to the report, the “Electronic Wait List” at the Minneapolis VA Health Care system contained 216 new patients who requested an appointment within 90 days, but who went unscheduled because everything was already booked. Individuals come off the wait list as appointment slots open up, and 197 of those on the list right now have been on it for fewer than 45 days.
The state’s VA clinics try to schedule patients within 14 days, and each has a specific percentage of patients they look to book on that timeline. For example, the Minneapolis Mental Health Clinic wants to schedule 70 percent of new patients and 95 percent of returning patients within two weeks; the actual numbers are 80 percent and 99 percent, respectively. Most of the VA clinics in Minneapolis, Rochester and Mankato, are hitting their goals, according to the report.
For a few of the services, though, there’s a pretty low bar for meeting their goal. Primary care clinics around the state, for example, look to schedule only 47 percent of new patients within two weeks. But Walz said those goals are in line with private sector standards.
A handful of the services (those “often difficult to purchase in the community,” according to the report) have a wait time over 30 days: ophthalmology (37 days), plastic surgery (38) and general surgery (40) are worst among them.
“You have to strive for better,” Walz said. “I like the 14 days. Period. One-hundred percent at 14 days, that should be our goal.”
Walz backs House VA inquiry
Even so, Walz said he’s on board with what’s become a bipartisan inquiry into Veterans Affairs in the U.S. House.
He voted for a bill Wednesday that would grant VA administrators broader power to fire employees due to a poor work record (390 lawmakers supported the bill; Rep. Keith Ellison was the only Minnesotan to oppose it, over concerns about the impact it might have on public-sector workers).
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Walz is a member of the Veteran’s Affairs Committee, which unanimously voted to subpoena VA documents related to wait times at the Phoenix clinic earlier this month. Clinics in other states — Colorado, Texas, Florida and others — are tackling similar problems.
“This is not partisan, this is not a witch hunt, this is deliberate, forceful, leaning into it, collaborative with [Democrats],” he said. “I feel like the accountability here has been good.”
President Obama met with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on Wednesday and has appointed a top administration official to look into the VA’s problems, in addition to pending congressional and inspector general investigations. He said he “will not stand for” misconduct at the VA and warned those responsible for it “has to be held accountable,” up to and including Shineski, whom several Republicans — and the American Legion — have said should resign or be fired.
“We’re going to work with him to solve the problem, but I am going to make sure that there is accountability throughout the system after I get the full report,” Obama said.
Only a handful of Democrats have called for Shinseki to lose his job, though one, Georgia Rep. David Scott, gave an impassioned floor speech arguing just that on Wednesday afternoon. Walz said he isn’t ready to go that far.
“It’s important to let the facts drive us to some conclusions,” he said. “The buck stops with somebody, and that’s what we’re going to find out on this.”
Performance goals and measures for VA mental health, primary care, and speciality clinics
For new patients, VA clinics aim to schedule appointments within 14 days of the request. For established patients, the goal is to schedule an appointment within 14 days of the patient’s desired date. As of March 2014, most Minnesota clinics were exceeding their goals, with the exception of primary care clinics dealing with new patients in Minneapolis and Mankato.
Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com. Follow him on Twitter: @dhenry
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Walz: Minnesota VA not caught up in growing wait-time controversy
