Backlog increases at Dover VA Clinic
More vets seeking medical care in Dover since Clarksville VA Clinic stopped taking new patients over a year ago
Mark Hicks
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee
DOVER, Tenn. — Veterans continue waiting more than 30 days for doctors' appointments across the nation, as well as in Dover, and the numbers are growing.
Don Bailey, commander of Dover's American Legion Post 72, and other local veterans are trying to bring attention to the problem that doesn't stop or start at the county line.
For the past six months, Bailey has researched the problem locally as he became aware that veterans were having longer waits for appointments at Dover's VA Clinic on Highway 48. He discovered it's happening nationwide even after news of the scheduling debacles in Phoenix in 2014.
"As veterans, we are all too familiar with the saying, 'Hurry up and wait,'" he said.
A major factor is the VA Clinic in Clarksville stopped seeing new patients in April 2015, which has caused veterans to seek health care in other places like Dover or Hopkinsville, Ky.
VA clinic hasn't taken new patients since March
Because of a significant influx of patients at the 10,000-square-foot Clarksville clinic, the providers could not keep pace with the caseload.
Bailey said there's currently a backlog of 1,700 vets who are waiting more than 30 days for appointments at Clarksville, Dover and Hopkinsville.
He said as of April 15, the number nationwide was 482,383 veterans. On Oct. 1, 2014, the number was 335,396, for an overall increase of 146,987 veterans waiting more than a month for health care.
In Dover, the number is 329, which is a huge jump from the 58 who were waiting more than 30 days in June.
Bailey supplied numbers from the VA showing that the 329 waiting more than 30 days is 46.4 percent of all veterans waiting for appointments at the Dover clinic.
The VA is moving to help the situation by building a bigger clinic for Clarksville, he said, but it's not expected to be completed until 2017.
"The official new building site or location has not been disclosed, nor have the building specs or projected health care clinic's layout been produced," he said. "We simply cannot wait for the new Clarksville VA Clinic to be completed in more than two years. Veterans' health and lives are at stake every day."
Bailey said generally, veterans are satisfied with the health care they receive in the VA system but getting access to it is the problem.
To illustrate one of the VA's shortcomings of dealing with the problem, Bailey made his comments in front of the Dover clinic, which is closed on Fridays.
Veterans Choice
The Veterans Choice Program was set up to help with the backlog, and it's for vets who live more than 40 miles from the nearest VA facility with a full-time primary care provider, Bailey said.
Essentially, a veteran can use the card at other health care providers but the vet must be referred to those services through the VA Clinic.
"It's difficult to get approval to use the Veteran Choice Card if we cannot get an appointment to see a VA physician," Bailey said.
Upon referral, veterans have access to more than 225 providers in Clarksville, more than 200 in Hopkinsville, 11 in Dover and four in Erin, as well as 56 in Paris and 105 in Murray, Ky.
"It is our hope that by shedding more light on the challenges veterans are facing with access to health care, long appointment wait times, and the Veterans Choice Program, we can begin to work together to implement timely and cost-effective measures that simply get the job done," Bailey said.
Mark Hicks can be reached at 931-212-7626 or on Twitter: @markhicksleaf.