Camden hospital to offer priority to veterans

Veterans will go to the front of the line at a private New Jersey health-care system under a program being started in response to problems with the Department of Veterans Affairs' health system.

Under the initiative, announced Tuesday, veterans living in seven South Jersey counties are being promised same-day primary care appointments and help from health-care navigators at Cooper University Health Care. Veterans would be served at the hospital in Camden and at system clinics.

"We'll worry later about who pays or whether or not Cooper absorbs that cost," said Cooper chairman George E. Norcross III, a Democratic political power broker and the brother of New Jersey congressional candidate Donald Norcross.

The program is to start July 1. It comes after the VA reported long waiting times for appointments at VA health clinics across the country. The VA report released last week showed that new patients at the VA system in Philadelphia, which serves South Jersey, waited an average 43 days for a primary-care visit. At the North Jersey facilities, it was 25 days.

The VA later clarified that average waiting times at many facilities are likely much shorter than first reported, but many veterans are still waiting too long for care.

George Norcross said he was hoping other health-care providers in New Jersey and across the country start making the same commitment as Cooper. Norcross said it was not enough for Congress to consider a bill that would require appointments within 30 days, and that's why Cooper is trying to do more.

In some cases, the VA does pay for veterans' care outside its system, such as for services that are not available at the nearest VA center. Since 2011, it has been paying for care at private health systems for veterans in remote parts of Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Montana, and Virginia, as part of a pilot program set to expire this year.

Cooper president and CEO Adrienne Kirby said the health system did not have an estimate on how much the service may cost. Hospital officials say many veterans are eligible for coverage through employers, Medicaid, or Medicare. For others, Cooper can seek reimbursement from the VA.

Elizabeth Lietz, a spokeswoman for the American Hospital Association, said the group does not track services such as Cooper's plan to help veterans, but added she was not aware of any other hospitals or clinics launching similar efforts in response to troubles at the VA.

Several veterans attended Tuesday's announcement in Camden. Among them, Sam Podietz said he thinks the VA problems have been overblown in some cases, but added that the Cooper pledge would help lower-income veterans.

"We have more veterans using the system than the VA is prepared to handle," said Podietz, who served in the Marine Corps from 1959 until 1963.