FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     

July 3, 2014                               

Acting Secretary Gibson Continues to Provide Transparency on Wait Times

 WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today released its bi-monthly data update showing progress on VA efforts to accelerate access to quality health care for Veterans who have been waiting for appointments.

Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Sloan D. Gibson announced that VA outreach has now extended to nearly 140,000 Veterans across the country to get them off of wait lists and into clinics for medical appointments.  VA also released the latest updated, facility-level patient access data.

“In many communities across the country, Veterans wait too long for the high quality care they’ve earned and deserve,” said Acting Secretary Gibson. “As of today, we’ve reached out to nearly 140,000 Veterans to get them off wait lists and into clinics, and there is more work to be done.  As we continue to address systemic challenges in accessing care, these regular data updates enhance transparency and provide the most immediate information to Veterans and the public on improvements to Veterans’ access to quality health care. We are fully committed to fixing the problems we face in order to better serve Veterans. We must restore the public’s trust in VA, but more importantly, we must restore the trust of our Veterans who depend on us for care.”

The latest patient access data is available at www.va.gov/health/access-audit.asp

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