Representatives from the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System say they've hired more staff, streamlined services and decreased wait times for specialty care by an average of 12 days per patient.
System officials held a media round table Thursday with representatives of the Little Rock Veterans Affairs Regional Office to discuss how both agencies are working to improve access to health care and benefits for the region's veterans. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs has required facilities across the country to reduce veteran wait times for those services.
Healthcare System acting chief of staff Tina McClain says the system has reduced average wait times for specialty care consults from 19.6 to 7.6 days. Officials say the backlog of veterans waiting on benefit approval has been reduced by about 86 percent locally.
