Panel OKs Bush Plan to Shut VA Hospitals

[travisab1]

I thought you'd want to know!!!



From: ColonelDan ColonelDan@worldnet.att.net
Subject: Panel OKs Bush Plan to Shut VA Hospitals

Take the time to read this report.. especially for your area of the country
You will find & understand that the VISN areas divide up States, i.e.
Illinois is split among at least 4 areas, Central IL goes with No Indiana,
and most of Mich in VISN 11, while So IL, VISN 15 goes west clear thru KS.
NW IL, VISN 23, goes clear thru the Dakato's. Chicago, VISN 12 goes north
thru Wisc.
Sinister... you bet.. it helps break up Congressional Liasons, as well as
State Vet Svc Orgs, Governor,s & State Rep.. etc.
some excerpts

"Overall, the number of veterans is projected to decline 16 per-cent
by FY 2012, from approximately 25 million in FY 2002 to fewer than 21
million by FY 2012.
The number of veterans enrolled in VA health care is projected to increase
from 6 million enrollees
in FY 2001 to 6.3 million by FY 2012, and then to decrease to 5.7 million by
FY 2022."

"The DNCP proposed new
construction in Orlando (VISN 8), Denver (VISN 19) and Las Vegas (VISN 22)
and proposed studies for
Charleston (VISN 7) and Louisville (VISN 9). The Commission concurred with
the DNCP proposals for
Orlando, Denver, Charleston and Louisville. The Commission did not concur
with the proposal for Las
Vegas, instead recommending that VA continue partnering with DoD at Nellis
Air Force Base."

"The DNCP proposed new
construction in Orlando (VISN 8), Denver (VISN 19) and Las Vegas (VISN 22)
and proposed studies for
Charleston (VISN 7) and Louisville (VISN 9). The Commission concurred with
the DNCP proposals for
Orlando, Denver, Charleston and Louisville. The Commission did not concur
with the proposal for Las
Vegas, instead recommending that VA continue partnering with DoD at Nellis
Air Force Base."

FROM: FRANCIS OMEARA <mikejhts
TO: ColonelDan
Full VA Report at
target=_blank eudora="autourl">http://www.carescommission.va.gov/reportdownload.asp

Can select Indiv areas VISN at:
target=_blank eudora="autourl">http://www.carescommission.va.gov/ReportPortions.asp

target=_blank eudora="autourl">http://www.newsday.com/news/politics...,6415007.story

02/13/2004 1540 EST Panel OKs Bush Plan to Shut VA Hospitals
By SUZANNE GAMBOA
Associated Press Writer

Veterans hospitals in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Mississippi should be shut
down, but the administration should scrap plans to close facilities in New
York, Kentucky and California, an advisory commission said Friday.

The 16-member panel appointed to review the Department of Veterans Affairs
projected realignment of its health care system also agreed with the Bush
administration that a new hospital was needed in Orlando, Fla. It disagreed
with the recommendation for one in Las Vegas.

VA Secretary Anthony Principi promised to decide in about a month which
hospitals to close or reduce in size. Democrats were skeptical that final
decisions to close any of them would come in an election year.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said the importance of Ohio and
Pennsylvania in the presidential campaign could outweigh arguments in favor
of closing hospitals in those two states.

"I'd be surprised," said Daschle, D-S.D., if the Bush administration were to
accept the commission's recommendations, especially considering the
elections coming this year.

Veterans groups say the government shouldn't even be thinking about shutting
down VA facilities while U.S. soldiers are being wounded in Iraq.
"Regardless of the election, it seems inappropriate to close veterans
hospitals in time of war," said Steve Thomas, a spokesman for the American
Legion.

The VA advisory panel rejected administration proposals to close hospitals
in Canandaigua, N.Y.; Lexington, Ky.; and Livermore, Calif. It agreed with
the administration on the closure of hospitals in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and
Gulfport, Miss., and transferring large portions of care away from the
hospital in Waco, Texas.

Vietnam veteran Roger Sturdevant, 53, goes to the Waco VA hospital several
times a week for therapeutic swimming and post-traumatic stress disorder
group therapy. "I think it's terrible for them to make vets go so far from
home," he said Friday. "They're slitting our throats. They don't care about
us. Period."

Instead of opening a new hospital in Las Vegas, the CARES (Capital Asset
Realignment for Enhanced Services) Commission said the VA should continue
partnering with Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Despite that recommendation, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Principi told
him Thursday that a full-service medical facility, including an outpatient
hospital and nursing home for veterans, would be built in Las Vegas.

Cynthia Church, a spokeswoman for Principi, said the VA secretary would not
comment on the recommendations until he makes his decision about them.

The VA's highest priority should be employee and patient safety, the
commission said. It said the VA should move quickly to upgrade 63 facilities
to withstand earthquakes. The San Fernando Valley VA hospital in California
collapsed in 1971 during an earthquake, killing patients and employees.

The commission accepted or rejected several other proposals affecting dozens
of VA facilities across the country as part of a 20-year plan. In some
cases, it said, the department provided insufficient data to support changes
in some facilities' missions.

"The commission believes that change is necessary to prepare the system for
a new veteran demographic reality and a rapidly evolving approach to health
care delivery," the panel members said in their report.

The population of veterans has shifted away from northern cities such as
Chicago, Detroit, Boston and New York to Florida, Texas, Arizona and other
Sun Belt states.

VA officials told the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee this week that the
department already was at work on 41 likely projects in anticipation of the
commission's recommendations. How quickly changes would come after
Principi's decisions was uncertain.

The VA began a look at restructuring its health care network after
government auditors predicted in 1999 that it soon would be spending
billions of dollars to operate unneeded facilities.

___

On the Net:

CARES commission: target=_blank eudora="autourl">http://www.va.gov/cares



Regards,

Travis:cd: