Commission Calls for More Private Options, ‘Transformation’ of VA Health Care System

[Geee]

Free Beacon:

The independent commission tasked with examining the Department of Veterans Affairs network of medical facilities will call for more private options in the government’s provision of health care to veterans and the formation of a new board of directors to oversee a ‘far-reaching’ transformation of the system.

 

The Commission on Care, established by Congress after the secret wait list controversy two years ago, has outlined 18 recommendations to fix the VA’s “deep problems” in a lengthy final report to President Obama and VA Secretary Robert McDonald that was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

 

Though the report, which the agency is expected to publicly release on Wednesday, demands “fundamental, dramatic change” at the VA, some commission members still do not believe that the recommendations are aggressive enough to fix rampant flaws at VA hospitals nationwide.

 

The commission has been soliciting testimony for months, conducting on-site visits to VA facilities, and reviewing the details of an agency-commissioned independent assessment issued last September that found the VA’s network of hospitals to be deeply flawed and in need of “system-wide reworking.”