Obama to outline more veterans health care fixes

In a speech to the American Legion today, the president will announce new steps to improve veterans' access to mental health care and the transition in getting care from the Department of Defense to VA systems.

The Associated Press: Obama Addresses Vets In Trip Laden With Politics
Three months after a veterans' health care scandal rocked his administration, President Barack Obama is taking executive action to improve the mental well-being of veterans. The president was to announce his initiatives during an appearance before the American Legion National Convention that is fraught with midterm politics. ... The White House says Obama will announce administration steps to strengthen access to mental health care by members of the military, to improve the transition for those leaving the military from care administered by the Defense Department to that run by Veterans Affairs, and to foster suicide prevention and better treatments for post-traumatic stress syndrome (Kuhnhenn, 8/26).

The New York Times: Obama Plans More Measures To Improve Health Care For Veterans
The president is set to fly to Charlotte, N.C., where he will address the national convention of the American Legion just three months after a scandal over long waiting periods for medical appointments, falsified records and poor care forced the resignation of his secretary of veterans affairs, Eric K. Shinseki (Baker, 8/26).

Politico: Obama Orders Aimed At VA Delays
President Barack Obama will announce a number of executive actions on Tuesday tackling the scandal-plagued Department of Veterans Affairs, including providing better access to health care for veterans. The White House has reached out to over a quarter of a million veterans to get them off of wait-lists and into appointments, according to an administration fact sheet released Tuesday. Acknowledging what it called "inexcusable delays" that ultimately led to the deaths of dozens of veterans who were on waitlists, the White House said these steps will "ensure that this never happens again, and we will keep at it as long as it takes" (McCalmont, 8/26).

Bloomberg: Obama To Promise Improvements For U.S. Veterans In Speech
President Barack Obama will pledge improved mental-health care for U.S. military veterans and that fewer former service members will be homeless as he seeks to restore confidence in the scandal-scarred Veterans Affairs Department (Runningen and Keane, 8/26).

Also, VA officials announced some results of their investigation of the system -

The Associated Press: Probe: No Proof VA Delays Caused Phoenix Veterans To Die
The Veterans Affairs Department says investigators have found no proof that delays in care caused any deaths at a VA hospital in Phoenix, deflating an explosive allegation that helped expose a troubled health care system in which veterans waited months for appointments while employees falsified records to cover up the delays (Ohlemacher, 8/26).

Modern Healthcare: VA Preparing RFP For New Scheduling System
The Veterans Affairs Department is planning to launch a search for a contractor to create a new medical appointment scheduling system for the agency. The federal department plans to release an RFP for the work by the end of September. ... The agency currently uses the scheduling module of its VistA electronic health-record system. While a department audit released in June laid relatively little of the blame for recent veteran healthcare problems at the feet of the system, the department has been moving ahead to replace it (Dickson, 8/25).