Houston VA Medical Center wait times for Houston vets 'fairly good'

HOUSTON -- In the wake of President Barack Obama's announcement Wednesday that he will receive the results of an investigation into misconduct allegations at the Department of Veterans Affairs, local Houston VA officials confidently defended their record.

The president spoke amid widening allegations of snail's-pace wait times at VA health facilities across the country, with some VA officials fudging wait lists that made the times that veterans wait for medical care appear to fall within VA targets.

"Any misconduct -- whether it's allegations of VA staff covering up long wait times or cooking the books -- I will not stand for it, not as commander in chief, but also not as an American," Obama said, vowing to punish misconduct.

"What we found is that we're doing OK," Dr. James Scheurich, the Houston VA Medical Center's chief of staff, told ABC-13.

Outside VA investigators have visited the Houston VA within the past month and the medical center has conducted its own review. The result? A clean bill of health as it relates to wait times of the 1.2 million veterans who utilize the VA medical center annually.

"We've never had the pressure to make it look good on paper, but not be good in practice," Scheurich said.

According to Houston VA officials, 48 percent of new patient appointments for primary care are seen within 14 days; 61 percent of new mental health appointments are seen within 14 days.

There certainly are wait times, depending on the availability of experts and equipment, officials said. With audiology appointments, the average wait time is 45 days. For dental appointments, the average wait time is 34 days.

But that's nothing compared to some wait times reported from around the country.

Allegations that up to 40 veterans died while waiting for treatment at a VA hospital are dominating national headlines. Whistleblowers have alleged that a Phoenix VA hospital cooked their books to hide long delay times.

Scheurich said he felt "sadness" after hearing those reports.

"It's serious," he said. "The whole point of care is to have the interaction, the access."

Some local veterans supported the Houston VA Medical Center's claim of wait times that are not excessive.

"It's pretty good over there," said Willie Hopkins, a 57-year-old homeless veteran. He said he utilizes the VA for his primary care and for mental health visits. "I just walk in the gate."

He's lived in other states, he said, where the waits are far worse.

In one case, he needed an MRI in another state.

"It took seven months," Hopkins said.

Norman Macey is a Vietnam veteran and active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars statewide.

"My experience in Houston has been fairly good," he said.

He said the Houston model has worked well: The VA locally has opened some additional clinics to alleviate wait times.

Still, no VA hospital system as big as Houston's is likely to be perfect, he said.

"They've opened some clinics and that's alleviated some of the traffic, but you know it's going to be crowded," Macey said. "It's a big place, a lot of veterans there, so you just learn to live with it."