Issue Position: Veterans' Hospital in Fort Wayne

Issue Position

Issue Position: Veterans' Hospital in Fort Wayne

In May 2004, then-VA Secretary Anthony Principi accepted the recommendation of the VA CARES Commission to close the inpatient center at the Fort Wayne VA hospital and expand the outpatient clinic . His decision was based on data projecting a significant decline in inpatient demand over the next 20 years.

Both prior to, and immediately following, Secretary Principi's decision, I voiced my concerns about the CARES Commission's recommendation to close inpatient care at Fort Wayne. I was most disappointed with the commission's proposal to send inpatients to the Indianapolis VA hospital, which is more than two hours away, and which would put a tremendous burden on veterans and their families.

As the Representative of the Third District of Indiana, I am committed to ensuring that our veterans receive the benefits, services, and recognition that they have earned. The Secretary's decision on inpatient care was not in the best interest of our veterans and I have been working for several years to overturn it.

On June 30, 2005, I met privately with then-VA Secretary Jim Nicholson (Principi's successor) to discuss the need for an independent study of the Fort Wayne veterans' hospital in light of new inpatient projections my staff had obtained. The VA Department had revised its future bed usage estimates, thereby acknowledging that the CARES Commission used incorrect data to formulate its conclusion that our hospital's inpatient care unit wouldn't be used adequately. (The revised data indicate that Fort Wayne will need 31 beds in 2015 and 29 beds in 2023.) The VA had also issued a directive establishing a new 25-bed threshold for smaller VA facilities, which is a much lower goal than the CARES Commission's 40-bed threshold. At that meeting, Secretary Nicholson agreed to commission the independent study.

That study was completed in Summery 2007 by consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. Because the study did not include an analysis of outpatient care in Fort Wayne, the VA department has commissioned a second, independent study to supplement the first Booz Allen one. This second study is expected to be completed in 2008. Based on that report, the current VA Secretary, Dr. James Peake, will reexamine the 2004 decision made by his predecessor.

While the process is moving slowly, I believe that this pace is not necessarily to our disadvantage. Every month that goes by is another month that inpatient care is open and another month to make our case to the VA Department.

I will continue to lobby the VA to save inpatient care in Fort Wayne. I am especially grateful for the veterans and veterans' organizations throughout northern Indiana that have been loud in voicing their support for the care they receive in Fort Wayne. This support has been essential to our fight.

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