CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, has introduced a bill that would overhaul some of the practices at the Department of Veterans Affairs that have been hindering local veterans’ ability to get medical care.

The Veterans Health Care Freedom Act, introduced last month, would create a pilot program within the VA that would allow veterans to sidestep some of the procedures and long wait times at VA facilities while still using their benefits.

More control for vets

Blackburn said the aim is to give veterans more control over their care, specifically a way to directly manage where they’re seeking care.

“One of the things that our focus is on is to make certain that veterans have a quick response and that they have the access to services they need,” Blackburn told Clarksville Now.

“What has concerned us is how the slowdown has happened in services getting to veterans,” Blackburn said, referring to the community care referral program.

The community care program is how the VA gets healthcare to veterans when VA facilities can’t adequately meet their needs. Through the program, the veteran seeking care is evaluated and connected to healthcare providers in the community where they live.

While the VA states that community care is based on “specific eligibility requirements, availability of VA care, and the needs and circumstances of individual veterans,” the standard is that if the VA cannot provide primary care, mental health care or non-institutional extended care within 20 days, the veteran automatically becomes eligible for community care.

“We have heard from so many veterans about their frustrations on how long it takes them to get into the community care program, so what we’re trying to do is figure out how do you allow them direct access, how do you take out the middle man, how do you streamline this so that veterans are getting the care they need in a timely manner?” Blackburn said.

“We would like for it to eventually look like a program where the veteran has their dashboard and they can control some of their access, they can work with a caseworker if they want, but they also could be managing it themselves.”

Wait times in Clarksville

Darin Selnick, senior adviser to Concerned Veterans for America and former senior adviser to the Secretary of the VA, told Clarksville Now that Blackburn’s bill would fix “most all” of the current issues.

He was one of the writers of the VA Mission Act, which created the community care program and was rolled out in 2019.

Selnick said a large part what Blackburn’s bill will do is further reduce the wait time.

As of March 6, the average wait time for new patients seeking primary care is 22 days at the Clarksville VA Clinic, according to data from the VA’s website.

“So that means literally the average veteran would be eligible for community care (in Clarksville),” Selnick said.

However, the wait times and the way they are calculated have come under scrutiny.

“(Tennessee Valley Healthcare System) calculates its wait times for appointments by calculating how long it took from the time the appointment was created to the time the appointment was completed,” John Anderson, public affairs officer for TVHS, told Clarksville Now.

“That’s a partial truth,” Selnick said in response to the VA’s explanation.

According to information from FOIA requests made by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the VA continues to use what is called “patient indicated date” instead of the veteran’s “date of request” for an appointment to calculate wait times. The patient indicated date is set by the scheduler of the appointment, and the “date of request” is set by the veteran.

This lowers the appearance of wait times.

Like TriCare

In addition to wait times, the bill promises access to free market healthcare by allowing veterans to access primary, specialty and mental care outside of their Veterans Integrated Services Network, or regional network, and at non-VA facilities.

Blackburn said the pilot program would look similar to TriCare, the healthcare provided to active-duty service members and their dependents, which would also give veterans the ability to negotiate certain provisions of their care and know more about their eligibility for care with their benefits.

However, veterans would still be required to have choose providers in-network with the pilot program.

Blackburn said this would hopefully also reduce times some veterans might have to travel to VA facilities if they do not live near one.

“One of the things we’ve found with veterans is that they want to make certain they have somebody that is closer to them and they’re not having to travel. Then, they may want to use someone that may not be in one of these networks, there needs to be a way to work through those exceptions,” Blackburn said.

“If you put the veteran in charge, then the caseworker will have to respond to these needs.”