MASS. DELEGATION GETS POINT ACROSS ON BEDFORD VA HOSPITAL

by David Tamasi

WASHINGTON - Members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation met with Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi Wednesday to voice their objections to a preliminary report that calls for eliminating most in-patient care at the Bedford Veterans Hospital.

The draft proposal, made public in August by the VA's Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) Commission, would shift most in-patient services from the Bedford hospital to veterans' hospitals in Boston, Brockton and Manchester, N.H.

Bedford would lose more than 500 24-hour beds, including 65 psychiatric beds, 250 beds for nursing care and 100 beds for the Geriatrics Research Education Clinical Center, a nationally recognized center for veterans who suffer from Alzheimer's disease.

The VA is looking to close or reduce services at some of its hospitals in response to a government report that it wastes millions of dollars caring for veterans at aging, ill-used facilities. The General Accounting Office criticized the VA for needlessly duplicating health-care services. But critics have argued that the report failed to consider the impact on local communities or the burden on veterans who would have to travel further to receive care.

Emerging from the closed-door meeting, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy D-Massachusetts, said he thought the dialogue with Principi was encouraging.

"Being able to make this presentation was enormously important," Kennedy said. "He was reminded of the dramatic impact and the transportation problems for those in the greater Massachusetts area."

Principi said the Congress members "made an excellent point. My plea to them is that we have to work better to advance the cause of the VA hospital."

Congressman John Tierney, D-Salem, who organized the session, said the delegation asked Principi to visit the Bedford hospital. Principi said that he was going to "try to visit all major impacted areas" after the commission submits its report in December and he analyzes its recommendations for VA hospitals nationwide.

The executive director of the CARES Commission, Richard Larson, who did not attend the meeting, said he could not predict what would happen to the Bedford hospital but that "all factors would be taken into consideration" when the commission issued its report. He said the commission was still in its "fact-finding mode."

In July, the commission conducted 68 site visits around the country and met with local officials, hospital managers and employees to assess the needs of individual facilities. Now, Larson said, the commission is coming to the end of an "intense schedule" of 38 hearings at which it has received written and oral testimony from VA panels, elected officials and the public. It has scheduled a day-long national meeting Tuesday on Capitol Hill to seek further input, he said.

Principi said he was not legally bound by the commission's findings, but would probably either accept or reject the report in its entirety.

"If there are facilities that I feel I have a question about, I will meet with commission members and explain my concern," Principi said.

At a forum in Billerica last month, local veterans said they would be adversely affected by having to travel long distances to receive care at other hospitals.

Principi said that it was his responsibility to streamline services in a way that would improve health care for veterans.

"We have the same goals," he said. "There are a lot of aging facilities, and they are costly to maintain, but we have to look out for veterans and be sensitive to communities and their employees."