The Chattanooga Veterans Outpatient Clinic is located on Debra Road near Eastgate.IF YOU GO• What: Town hall forum• When: 3 to 5 p.m. Friday• Where: Chattanooga VA Outpatient Clinic, 150 Debra Road, Suite 5200, Bldg 6200
Veterans are welcome to weigh in on current problems facing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system.
The Tennessee Valley Healthcare System will host a town hall meeting Friday afternoon at the Chattanooga VA Outpatient Clinic. The event had been scheduled for today but was postponed.
Health system Director Juan Morales will attend the meeting, which accompanies other forums that have taken place in Murfreesboro, Clarksville and Nashville.
The VA was mired in national controversy for months over its long wait times for veterans seeking care in its clinics and hospitals. A recent VA audit found that in the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, new patients had an average wait of 58 days to see a primary care doctor and 71 days to see a specialist. That was the sixth-longest wait among all U.S. facilities, according to an Associated Press analysis.
A $17 billion congressional package of reforms signed into law by the president in August is aimed at improving care and decreasing wait times. Under the plan, Chattanooga's current 40,000-square-foot outpatient clinic, near Eastgate Town Center, will expand to 100,000 square feet and offer more specialist care -- including optometry, ophthalmology, radiology, orthopedics and podiatry.
Patient advocates will be on hand at Friday's meeting to help address any personal concerns that need follow-up, but the open forum will be geared toward overall systems improvement, system spokeswoman Jessica Schiefer said.