UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE ON
VETERANS' AFFAIRS
JOHNNY ISAKSON || CHAIRMAN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016
CONTACT: Amanda Maddox, 202-224-7777
Lauren Gaydos, 202-224-9126
VETERANS' AFFAIRS
JOHNNY ISAKSON || CHAIRMAN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016
CONTACT: Amanda Maddox, 202-224-7777
Lauren Gaydos, 202-224-9126
Isakson Encourages VA to Adopt Systemwide Health Care Best Practices
Praises representatives from VA facilities across the country for developing programs to best fit veterans’ needs
WASHINGTON
– U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee
on Veterans’ Affairs, called on the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) to adopt health care best practices throughout
the Veterans Health Administration to improve health care delivery to
veterans and help the VA overcome the many problems it has faced since
the department’s wait-time scandal in 2014.
At a committee hearing held to examine
the VA’s “Diffusion of Excellence” initiative, which was launched last
year to identify and disseminate operational best practices throughout
the VA’s health
care system, Isakson noted that best practices are crucial to ensuring
consistency at VA health care facilities across the country.
“I was a businessman for 33 years,”
remarked Isakson.
“I ran a company that had a lot of branch offices and I know that if
you can replicate where you have predictable quality, predictable
service and a predictable image wherever you go, you can build your
brand and you can build your business. I think that’s
true in a service business like VA health care.”
As
chairman, one of Isakson’s top priorities has been to improve health
care access and quality for veterans in the wake of the wait-time
scandal. He noted the importance of using these best practices
to help veterans across the VA system to improve health care and help
the VA recover from the scandal.
“Unfortunately,
because of the tragedies that took place in Arizona and Denver and in
other places, the brand of the VA has been tarnished – not because of
best practices, but because of bad practices,”
said Isakson.
“I’m personally delighted
to have this hearing so VA can talk about the success stories that it
has discovered and the ‘Diffusion of Excellence’ program. I want to
underscore the fact that this [program] is something that needs to be
implemented… throughout
the VA health systems around the country, so that we have a brand that
is recognized for the good things that it does, its quality and its
predictability, rather than the story that we see on the news today.”
Isakson
praised the efforts of Scott Bryant of the Chillicothe, Ohio, VA
Medical Center, who has developed an e-screening program for veterans
that improves care coordination using mobile technology,
and Dr. Kimberly Garner of the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare
System Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center in Little Rock,
Ark., who has developed a group program to help veterans plan for future
medical decisions.
Isakson noted, “One
of my passions since I’ve been in Congress is advanced care planning
for end of life as a standard practice. It’s something you don’t want to
do but it’s so much better for the
quality of life that you have and the quality of life that your
families have.”
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The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 114th Congress.
Isakson
is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard
from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate VA Committee since
he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home
state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations
representing each branch of the military as well as more than 750,000
veterans.
veterans
