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After the unearthing of secret wait lists for Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country, U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Cincinnati, met with Ross County veterans Friday to discuss the benefits of allowing veterans access to private practice physicians and VA doctors.

“You really have to scratch your head because you can’t believe this kind of thing happens,” Wenstrup said about the lack of medical service to veterans.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned in late May after the discovery of secret wait lists at the Phoenix VA for veteran medical procedures and consultations.

An investigation was launched and found that 226 veterans at the Phoenix VA waited an average of 115 days for their first primary care appointment. Of those, 84 percent reported waiting more than 14 days, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

“In a private practice, where their reputation is on the line, they are going to follow up with you,” Wenstrup said, speaking to veterans gathered at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 108.

A native of Cincinnati, Wenstrup worked as a podiatric surgeon for 26 years in private practice before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and becoming a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee. He also is a lieutenant colonel for the U.S. Army Reserve and is serving on a joint committee evaluating VA reforms.

Wenstrup blames many of the problems the VA is having on the system’s lack of accountability to its patients.

“They don’t know they should be seeing three times the patients a day because they’ve never been in the (private practice) system,” Wenstrup said about the lower number of patients VA doctors see per day compared with private practice doctors.

Several veterans in attendance reported having to change doctors and wait as long as a month to hear test results.

“The more choices a patient has, the better,” Wenstrup said. “What happens when a restaurant is competing against others? It either goes out of business or it gets better. That’s what we need to do to the VA.”

In early June, the House passed the Veterans Access to Care Act, which would reduce wait times and increase access to care by allowing veterans who have been on wait lists and live 40 miles or more from a VA facility to seek private practice care. The Senate is debating the bill.

Allowing more of a combination between the VA and private practices could improve care, Wenstrup said.

“This culture is broken, and it doesn’t work,” he said. “I don’t see any reason why someone can’t be a VA provider and not have their own practice.”

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