Veterans Affairs operations in Oregon get low star ratings
WASHINGTON – If you’ve the Veterans Affairs call center in Portland and waited more than three minutes to have someone answer, you have lots of company. More than 12 percent of callers simply quit waiting and hang up, the VA’s own assessment indicates.
Call waiting is only one problem area for Oregon's three VA hospitals, all of which fare poorly in the VA's own rating system.
On a scale of one to five, with five the best, Portland’s facility rated just two stars in an assessment last December. Further south, Roseburg's VA operation got two stars in June, the most recent assessment available, up from one a year ago, and White City's VA got a single star both last December and in June.
The VA assesses the facilities on a variety of metrics, including in-hospital complications, mortality rates, infections, ventilator-related events, patient satisfaction and lengths of stay. All three Oregon facilities had higher than benchmark-level rates of registered nurse turnover, for example, in the second quarter assessment known as the Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning, or SAIL.
“We have the outcomes to show that we are providing quality care,” Michael Fisher, director of the VA’s Portland Health Care System, said in a prepared statement. “It’s access – and convenient access – that we’re not doing as well as we need to, but we are making great strides in these areas and expect this report to indicate that in the near future.”
The second quarter SAIL for Portland indicated a higher percentage of readmissions within 30 days — 12.5 percent compared to the benchmark of 10.7 percent.
Portland’s VA noted that its inpatient performance rating at 94.5 percent was better than the national average of 90.9 percent and that its adjusted lengths of stay and mortality rates were also better than the national average.
In a follow-up email, Daniel E. Herrigstad, the Portland VA’s public affairs officer, said the SAIL data “shows that VA Portland Health Care System (VAPORHCS) provides quality care in critical areas.
“VAPORHCS scores well with low mortality rates and fewer patients who are readmitted. The SAIL data does indicate veterans' frustrations with lack of access to that care, which drags down the overall score. Those frustrations can be anything from how long they wait to lack of parking. VAPORHCS has expanded space, hired more caregivers and improved key aspects in mental health care that currently allows patients to get same-day help and have resulted in better follow-up care for some veterans. In Primary Care, for example, VAPORHCS is currently short 13.5 primary care providers and 39 support staff – this creates a big challenge in providing timely access. The good news is we have seven providers and 16 support staff selected to be hired in the near future and we are making progress every day in this area.
“Ultimately though, the effort is less about chasing numbers or ratings, and more about improving the quality of a veteran's experience.”
Oregon steps in to serve veterans when feds fail
The Roseburg VA operation released a lengthy statement detailing the improvements that raised its score to two stars.
"Our focus at Roseburg has been to improve veterans' access to health care, quality of care, and satisfaction...Our employee-driven teams developed plans to improve length of stay, readmission rate and the discharge process...We expanded our capacity for specialty services (endoscopy, outpatient surgery, dental, rehab therapies and imaging) with the opening of the new Eugene Health Care Center. This allows us to bring care closer to where a large portion of our veterans lives."
Roseburg also noted it had the third largest improvement in the nation as measured by SAIL mental health metrics.
White City's VA released a statement acknowledging its low rating but said improvements have been made in mental health and specialty care appointment waiting times.
"But the rating also shows veterans' continued frustrations with difficulty in navigating the system and with coordination of care. These frustrations impact veterans' experience at the facility, leading to lower scores."