Wait times, the VA and Disneyland
The Washington Post reports that Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Bob McDonald told reporters at the Christian Science Monitor that the amount of time that veteran waits to receive care from the VA shouldn’t be important to the VA, much like your wait in line at Disneyland isn’t important to the Disney staff;
“When you go to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line? Or what’s important?” McDonald told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
“What’s important is, what’s your satisfaction with the experience?”
So, are the customers in line at Space Mountain going to die if they don’t get to the ride in time?
While I have very few complaints with the VA, I also understand that my experience hasn’t been the same for every veteran. Trivializing the fact that veterans have actually died waiting for care from the VA isn’t helping McDonald. Besides, the Post claims that Disney does indeed keep track of wait times;
Disney, it turns out, does collect and analyze extensive waiting time data, which it considers core to its overall customer experience. The company has a system that manages the information.
[…]
[McDonald] said the date the appointment is made “is not the ultimate measure of satisfication.”
“You would have a veteran who waits two days and one who waits eight days” for a medical appointment, McDonald said, but the one who waited longer might feel better about the care he or she received.
I know what he’s saying, but he needs a more artful phrasing.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
How much is this motherfucker making?
Hey Bob, STFU and STFD.
Fucking clown.
i am sure it was rhetorical, but $203,700
Seems about 203,695 too much to me.
????
Look at that pussified azzhole! his picture makes me want to puke! He needs his azz kicked up between his should blades……DAILY!!
Or the one who waits longer may die and therefore not be able to bitch about the care he didn’t receive.
“You would have a veteran who waits two days and one who waits eight days” for a medical appointment, McDonald said, but the one who waited longer might feel better about the care he or she received.
8 days? We are talking months in some cases. Some waited their ENTIRE lives to get seen, ASS!
I got a referral to see a Dermatologist for a questionable skin lesion. The only one in the area had a 90 day wait time.
Yeah, usually when I make appointments its “next month” minimum and I have a fantastic VA. So others are definitely being told months.
So I would like to add my 2 cents, I have only been in the VA System for about a year( Puget Sound VA), and I have found very good care,I have never waited more than a few weeks for even a very specialized clinic( eyes)I only had to wait 3 weeks for my colonoscopy, and i can get my pain management injections within 10 days of when i need them.I don’t want to hate on the older Vets but a lot of these guys don’t help themselves, they show up late or on the wrong days,they are very rude in many cases giving the admin or nurses a hard time. I had to wait almost 2 extra hours longer for my MRI a few weeks back because some old moldy guy who was coming from out of town didn’t bother to call ahead and tell them that he would be late, just have some common sense and be nice. Oh and to all you old men out there, for fucks sack take a shower and change your skivvies before you come in for your app, I mean WTF, I know your old but that does not mean I need to smell your nasty self. Nothing but love to my VA DR.
Hey J P….I’m one of those old farts myself. But I do bathe every day. As for service, I really have little complaining to do for my experiences, other than an occasional incompetent person. But really few at that.
Yep, your point of view is understood when it comes to the old timers. See them every time I go in. Some are confused as hell, some are just out of it. Some do stink like a septic tank. Worst time is during Winter’s cold and flu season when they stick me in a room with a bunch of old geezers coughing without even considering covering their face. I just get up and walk out, stopping by the front desk and ask them to motion at the door when it’s time for me to come in. Hopefully neither one of us will ever be the type that pisses our pants and comes in with two quarts of dribble around the zipper.
Now what was I talking about and where was I headed?
And if the younger vets would quit trying to get disability for every little sore hangnail the wait times wouldn’t be as long. At least they tightened up the 50% sleep apnea scam.
Generalizations. See how they work?
The irony is that someone will get quick medical care at Disneyland should it be needed…
Excellent Point. Fuck you times two Bob.
Hey, Bob (I was in Special Forces, too) McDonald. I gotta message for you, so listen up.
See my hand? See how many fingers I’m holding up? Yeah, Yeah, I know my fingers must be illiterate cause they can’t count any higher than one, but:
That is what I think of you and your Disneyland to VA wait times comparison.
That is all. Out.
Ensure you’re using both hands Claw.
His analogy fails. If I shell out $200 per head to get in, then spend all day waiting to go on two rides that last 45 seconds each, who the fuck would consider that a “positive” experience?
As they said in “Generation Kill,” can you believe that retard is actually in charge of people?
Talk about a total disconnect from reality.
There should be no wait times. Privatize the care. I got to see an orthopedist same day I called here in Houston with my private health care insurance. The private sector always performs better.
I am ashamed at what my country has tolerated at the VA.
But remember, some people regard Bernie Commie as a hero.
And this despite the fact he was in charge of VA oversight.
Even worse, there are those who think government run healthcare is going to be better than what we are seeing now.
So that being said, I’ve got this lovely bridge to sell you.
Anyone who has ever been at Disney knows they measure every detail of every thing related to customer satisfaction. INCLUDING LINE WAIT TIMES. They’ve got that sh*t down to a science.
Step into a line and there will be monitors along the way with constantly updated estimates of wait times. And they have trigger points established to mitigate long wait times. Like opening additional lines, sending over characters to entertain those waiting, and suggesting other rides with shorter wait times (other courses of action if you will)
Why?
Because THEY CARE about customer satisfaction
Old Bob needs to actually visit Disney before running his ball washer like an idiot.
At the very least he could see how a large organization that actually cares about their customers functions.
“running his ball washer”
That needs a spew alert! Luckily I was just chewing some gum. 🙂
I’mma have to remember “ball washer” ^_^
Don’t forget that they also have “Fast Pass” lines as well.
Both the VA and Disney get our money, the reason that Disney cares is that we can always decide not to spend our money there, unlike the VA.
This guy is going to turn around the VA?
His statement, “What’s important is, what’s your satisfaction with the experience?” is absolutely absurd.
Anyone in charge of a health care facility/system who does not know that the ‘experience’ is much more than the 25 minutes spent with the triage nurse and provider, has little insight of the health care delivery system.
How do I know? 41 years in medicine including 23 as a Navy Corpsman, 11 working FOR the VA and 7 years here and there.
The satisfaction or lack thereof begins when I pick up the phone or present to make an appointment to the time I (ME) says the experience is complete. That continues, for me, all through the process to when I pick up the script in the VA pharmacy or walk out the door.
Oh, BTW, my 11 years working for the VA was the most disappointing of my many years in medicine. My years as a Navy Corpsman were the most rewarding. A slam dunk …
McDonald is nothing but a fucking assclown… another “vet” fucking vets over, just like the assclown before him.
I’m with you on the VA and being a Corpsman… did my master thesis on how to fix the VA, let me tell you is was ass ugly.
This guy has the personality and empathy of a vacuum.
Yes a Dyson … Not one of those cheap vacs … One that sucks really hard!
LMAO !!!!!!
How about a Shop-Vac
?
?
I think privatization is the only way to fix the institutional problems of the VA. IMO, those at the top of the food chain are interested in making changes only to the extent it protects their jobs. There, I said it. The VA should continue to provide some services, such as prosthetics, in which their performance is world class.
“What’s important is, what’s your satisfaction with the experience?”
“Good morning. This is Chad Bumfuq with the VA. May I speak with Mrs. Smith.”
“This is she.”
“Ma’am, we’re doing follow-up for quality assurance on your husband’s VA experience.”
“He’s dead. He waited six months for a test and it came back positive. By then it was too late.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’m aware of that. But about his overall VA experience. Would you say he was very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, just satisfied, or other?”
Arf Arf
Does the VA use Disney’s FastPass system too?
No, 2/17, but many vets apparently ‘passed slowly’ while their applications for health care sat in a drawer somewhere within the bowels of the VA, often for months or year(s). For that, there is no excuse. This guy is little more than a punch line.
Ah … NOT AT ALL SATISFIED!
That is why this service connected Vet no longer uses the VA or Vet’s Choice … Both are broken!
But you can be the VA will pay in the end!
Out!
Sadly, Master Chief, shit like this and the shoddy treatment you and too many other vets have received is why is am incredibly reluctant to recommend service to our young people.
But hey, Obama phones for everyone!
There is a mountain of bullshit that keeps all bureaucracies intact. Throwing money at a problem doesn’t fix the problem. I wonder whether the VA can be somehow defunded, allowed to perish on paper, and then reconstituted under new operating rules and outside of the protections now accorded its employees. Well, I can dream, can’t I?
“Throwing money at a problem doesn’t fix the problem.”
YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT about that, just look at Public Education as another example of that! Throwing barge loads of money into USG Bureaucracies always results in mega-mountains of waste and incompetence!
Which is why so many vets support Bernie. He wants to spend money, but they don’t realize they won’t see shit from it. All that money will do is create an ever greater bureaucracy.
Maybe he should just hire some more VA attorneys.
I have had nothing but positive experiences with the VA in Austin. The only negative experience I even have personal experience with was watching a admin asst berate an elderly feller. I told her not to talk to him like she was. Her only question was, “What is your name?” I looked her in the eye and said, “I am Spartacus!”
If you had said “I am Hondo”, you’d be first in line. (smile)
I didn’t know Hondo then. But I ask, who really knows Hondo?
Just when you thought it couldn’t get anymore F’d up ????
Bob,
I *DO* judge Disneyland by its wait times. That’s why I chose specific times of the year to attend and paid to have priority passes for rides.
Where’s that option for the VA, moron?
I’ll also point out that in the case of medical care, the “wait time” IS PART OF THE EQUATION when determining whether care was adequate.
I’m no longer surprised at the idiocy of Democratic appointees…so you’ve got that going for you.
Is there not an ass kicking retired SF or Ranger two or one star with an ass kicking retired Command E-9 and an ass kicking retired O-6 XO or Chief of Snakes to fix the VA? Where do they come up with these jerks? The VA head does not need to be doing interviews, he or she needs to be in the field talking to veterans and kicking some ass. It is all of this touchy feely shit that has ruined the military and our country.
How long does this arrogant asshole wait for an appointment when he has a serious need? A day, maybe two? wanna bet? What a “let them eat cake” attitude. Fits this administration to a “T”.
This is such a ridiculous position for him to have taken. Wait time do matter. Satisfaction also matters. Why not track both and see how wait times correlate with satisfaction?
As for care received? Get rid of the doctors and nurses that provide poor care. The clinics and the veterans who use the clinics know why they are. As do the patient advocates.
HEY Commissar, the VA is a FINE EXAMPLE of socialized medicine, DITTO with Medicare and Medicaid. Care to share some more of your potheaded, ponytailed freeze-dried hippie UC Berserkely profs’ talking points on socialism with us?
False similarity. There is no sustained public pressure to fix the VA because only a tiny minority of the population uses it.
If most people were using a single payer system the political pressure to fix systemic problems would be powerful.
Is it?
If such a tiny percentage of the population uses the VA system, and yet they are still more fucked up than a soup sandwich, wouldn’t it stand to reason that this is prima faciae evidence than single payer would be a goat fuck of biblical proprtions?
It’s okay. Just mouth the words as you read them and nod your head.
Exactly Silentium….they can’t fucking service a couple of million veterans but dumb fuck wants to hand over the reins of health care for 330 million people. I’m sure nothing could possibly go wrong…
Most people never served.
“but the one who waited longer might feel better about the care he or she received”
Or he or she might be dead by the time his appointment comes up. But then we can’t get their opinion in that case.
Bob McDonald, you are a fucking asshole.
WORD ^^^^^^
Bob McDonald, you are a lying cocksucker.
“As I thought about it later, I knew that this was wrong,” McDonald said of his false statement.
Misstatement is the new lie.
“I have no excuse,” the website quoted McDonald as saying in its report. “I was not in special forces.”
Piece of shit Valor thief is running the VA.
Some shit-bag addict on TennCare can get his “pain management” appointment, 120 OxyContin, Xanax and laxatives in a matter of hours, monthly to boot.
Then, the shit-bags “domestic partner” rolls on in after him and gets the same.
Then they proceed to sell most of the “free” narcotics on the street to buy meth and liquor laughing and spitting in our faces.
We pay for all of this and then have to pay for them to be able to shit since they have been on narcotics for YEARS?
Then we ask our veterans to beg for help while handing out bonuses to VA employees.
What the fuck is wrong with our country?
What a complete and utter assclown. Oh, and he thinks you are stupid, too.
So, how was that Shinseki firing ay?
That was supposed to be the start of ‘healing’ and ‘fixing’ the VA system right?
Told.
You.
All.
Ain’t no fixing this bloated mess overall.
By the way, there ARE some good VA centers:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/05/23/dying-vietnam-vet-asks-for-final-meeting-with-beloved-horses-outside-hospital.html?intcmp=trending
If you’re up early and don’t have anything better to do while chomping at the bit waiting for the Tuesday Morning Feel Good Stories, take a couple of minutes and read the comments on the linked article.
Talk about your attack of the early morning trolls.
I wonder if MacDonald here contributed to Burch’s charity?
Another thing that Disney and the VA have in common; Disney says that they’ve doubled the size of their Dumbo ride.
I would be interested in knowing how many of those long wait times belong to priority 6, 7, or 8 veterans. I am not going to cry about someone who shuffled papers at Fort Hamilton for a few months having to wait a few months for free medical care.
[…] FBI Investigation The Quinton Report: Wonder Woman Based On Margaret Sanger This Ain’t Hell: Wait Times, The VA, And Disneyland Weasel Zippers: Google Offices In France Raided For Money Laundering, Financial Fraud Megan […]
My waiting time, as a service connected disabled veteran, is in years. Or at the very least, months.
Thank God I have Tricare to fall back on.