It needs to be closer to where people live. You can't expect to get your hypertension treated by someone 200 miles away. VA officials have also worked to reduce red tape. From fiscal 1995 to fiscal 1999, they eliminated nearly 2,800 VA forms. They scanned their remaining forms onto a CD, which was then distributed to field facilities.
Forms are also now available on the Internet.
It's much easier and it's now up on the Web if you want to file electronically. We're trying every way we can to minimize that look and feel of government bureaucracy and make it effective and efficient. A 1999 survey commissioned by the National Partnership for Reinventing Government found that veterans who use VA hospitals and clinics were increasingly satisfied with VA health care. Eighty percent of VA health care users were more satisfied than two years earlier. The survey confirmed that administrative changes have led to greater satisfaction among the veterans the VA serves, Garthwaite said.