McCaskill slams Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital wait times

Veterans seeking mental health care at Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital waited 11 times longer than the hospital reported to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the hospital had the highest regional rate for inaccurate data about wait times, an Office of Inspector General’s report issued in March states.

The report also highlights inaccuracies in wait time reporting for other specialty care, failure to make sure veterans needing follow-up consultations with a specialist obtained appointments and problems with TriWest, which manages the program to provide care from private physicians when it takes too long to get care from the VA.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, wrote a letter Tuesday asking the regional director for veterans’ health, William Patterson, to provide detailed reports on areas needing improvement identified in the audit.

“I am very concerned about any delays or deficiencies in veterans’ health care, particularly in my home state of Missouri,” McCaskill wrote. “Research has shown that lack of access to critical mental health services may lead to suicidal behavior, especially among those who have completed multiple deployments.”

Studies show suicide rates among Missouri veterans are nearly three times the overall suicide rate nationally and higher than the national rate for suicide among veterans, McCaskill noted.