By: Patricia Kim
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers wants the Department of Veterans Affairs to streamline its scheduling processes for medical appointments amid reports that veterans are falling through the cracks when seeking mental health services at the VA.
Led by Reps. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., and Mike Waltz, R-Fla., 13 lawmakers cited an Oct. 17 investigation by Military.com and feedback from constituents raising concerns about continuity of behavioral health care for veterans.
The representatives described the Military.com report as “deeply disturbing” in a letter sent to VA Secretary Denis McDonough on Friday.
“Veterans who take the step to schedule behavioral health care are often doing so because they are in critical need of support. Yet too many report long wait times or a lack of available appointments,” they wrote.
Military.com interviewed more than a dozen veterans and VA employees who described scheduling and staffing issues at VA hospitals and clinics that led to appointment cancellations by facilities and long waits for care.
They described wanting to get mental health treatment and waiting for months for an appointment, only to have it canceled at the last minute without explanation — a situation that left them feeling abandoned.
One veteran in Strickland’s district saw seven of his 16 behavioral health appointments canceled.
“More must be done to provide timely and effective care to our veteran and military community,” Strickland said in a statement Friday to Military.com.
Data provided by the VA showed that, from 2020 through 2023, the cancellation rate for mental health appointments by facilities averaged 10.6%, with a high of 12.1% in 2020 early in the COVID-19 pandemic to 9.2% in 2023.
During an address Oct. 29 at the National Press Club, McDonough said the VA is providing medical care to more veterans than at any point in its history and has undertaken a hiring effort to ensure that former service members get the care they need.
“By nearly every metric, VA is smashing records we had set last year. That means more care, even more benefits to even more veterans. And it’s not just more care, it’s better, world-class care,” McDonough said.
Lawmakers and advocates have been warning, however, about the challenges facing VA medical centers regarding medical appointment scheduling without a centralized system. During a hearing in September, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., described the current system as broken, calling for new solutions.
“Outdated, dysfunctional systems increase veterans’ wait times and may discourage them from getting care from the VA, altogether,” Rosendale said.
During an interview with Military.com on the challenges facing the next VA secretary, Dr. David Shulkin, who served as VA secretary during President Donald Trump’s first term, said that, with an influx of 750,000 new patients under the PACT Act, access to care will be a top priority.
“I think we are watching a new ‘wait time’ crisis beginning to happen. … You can just see the [appointment] wait times going up and the current administration has been holding back on community care access, and that is a formula for veterans to keep waiting,” Shulkin said Nov. 6.
In their letter to McDonough, the lawmakers urged the VA to take action to develop a “robust” recruitment and retention program for mental health providers; streamline its appointment management system; and implement measures to ensure that patients get consistent care.
“It’s time for the Department of Veterans Affairs to take swift comprehensive action to address these systemic issues and work toward providing our veterans with reliable, consistent and effective mental health care they need and deserve,” they wrote.
In addition to Waltz and Strickland, the letter was signed by Reps. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M.; Andrea Salinas, D-Ore.; Donald Davis, D-N.C.; Jack Bergman, R-Mich.; Andre Carson, D-Ind.; Seth Moulton, D-Mass.; Brad Finstad, R-Minn.; Jennifer McClellan, D-Va.; Mark Alford, R-Mo.; and John Garamendi, D-Calif.; and Delegate James Moylan, R-Guam.