Private hospitals can get vets the care they need

When we read about the endemic problems plaguing the veterans health-care system, Cooper University Health Care launched the Veterans VIP Priority Program.

After just two months, our experience shows us that veterans are interested in more timely and accessible care and that the solution may be far easier than a years-long rebuilding of the Veterans Affairs system. The recent congressional agreement to include additional funding for veterans to seek care at non-VA facilities is a critical start to the solution.

In New Jersey, veterans face an average wait of nearly 25 days as new patients for primary care and nearly 47 days for specialty care. That is far longer than a first-time patient would wait for an appointment with a private doctor.

Through its VIP program, Cooper is offering "same day service" for veterans seeking primary care.

Any veteran from New Jersey's seven southern counties, regardless of insurance status, can receive an appointment for primary care the same day he or she contacts us.

The support team for this effort consists of clinical nurse, scheduling, and financial navigators. We have a toll-free number (866-990-VETS) and website for veterans (http://cooperhealth.org/sjvets), and this fall we'll expand the services available to include flu vaccinations as well as cancer screenings at MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper.

In the months since the program was announced, more than 430 veterans have reached out to Cooper. That's just from the South Jersey counties that Cooper serves. With more than 3,400 counties in the country, undoubtedly there are tens of thousands of veterans who either aren't willing - or aren't able - to wait any longer for basic care.

One of the first to contact Cooper was Ralph Digise. He served 20 years in the Navy, including time on the USS Enterprise, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier where Digise believes he came into contact with asbestos. Today, Digise suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema.

Digise has been battling Veterans Affairs over benefits for more than five years, only to be denied. He even moved from Florida to New Jersey before he could get approval for a portable oxygen tank - which he never received. The day after Digise's wife contacted Cooper, her husband met with one of our doctors and has now received his oxygen tank.

While it is clear that the problem our veterans face obtaining quality health care through VA isn't new, the last two months at Cooper show that it may take a new way of doing things to fix the problem.

Private health-care systems can provide a broader range of high-level services than VA. At Cooper, those services include a single facilitator who will connect a veteran with a primary-care physician, which is the first and most important step in understanding the breadth of each patient's needs.

We created the Veterans VIP Priority Program because it is part of our mission to serve, to heal, and to educate. More importantly, what was happening to our veterans was outrageous and had to stop.

There is a role that private hospitals and health-care systems can play in meeting the needs of our veterans, and Congress should continue to provide ways that allow veterans to access such services.