Monterey, CA Veterans Administration Crippled By 40 Year Old Software

View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

Continued problems at the Veterans Administration have plagued the Obama Administration and although Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has refused to resign, political pressure did result in the resignation of Robert Petzel, the VA undersecretary for health care.  Whistleblowers and the House Committee on Veterans Affairs have alleged that as many as 40 veterans may have died as a result of excessive wait times.  26 VA centers across the nation are under investigation by the inspector general of the Veterans Affairs Department for mismanagement after it was alleged that a VA hospital in Phoenix manipulated records to make it look like there was little wait time to see a doctor when there was quite a lengthy one.   Relatives of James Pert told the Wall Street Journal that eight months after going to the Phoenix VA Health Center for help, he received a call saying he had been assigned a primary care physician.  This was earlier than expected.  Initially VA employees told Pert it would be about a year to get an appointment.  By the time he got to the doctor, it was too late.  The 64-year old marine was dying of melanoma (he died in June of last year).  The scheduling software that the VA uses was developed in 1984, the first year Apple debuted the Macintosh.  The system has remained largely unchanged over the past three decades.  This mess has led to fuel for Republicans to use to attack President Obama in the upcoming elections.  A number of Congressional candidates on Thursday asked the President to fire Shinseki.  The VA crisis was called "a national embarrassment" by House Majority Whip Keven McCarthy (R-CA).  This seems to be a mess even bigger than the failure of the health care reform web site.  The VA needs to move quickly to get onto a new software system.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.