WASHINGTON – In the wake of a scathing report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, today called on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to increase veterans’ access to mental health care and improve oversight of the administration of mental health care at the Veterans Health Administration.

At a committee hearing held today, Isakson noted that despite several committee hearings examining veterans’ mental health care and an executive order from the president directing the VA to increase access, veterans are still having trouble getting mental health care in a timely manner.

“Failure is not an option as far as I’m concerned,” said Isakson. “The lives of every one of these veterans is important. They risked that life for all of us and our safety and security overseas. We’ve got to make sure they have the care and the accessibility to mental health coverage so they don’t take their life while they’re here at home. And that means a VA that’s responsive, a hotline that works, and a program that makes sure that veterans can get services when they need them in a timely basis, not a week or two later on.”

The Government Accountability Office report, entitled “VA Mental Health: Clearer Guidance on Access Policies and Wait-Time Data Needed” and released today, reveals that the VA’s efforts to increase access to mental health care for veterans by hiring more providers and creating more partnerships with community mental health providers have faced serious challenges.

“The goal of the VA must be to see to it that somebody at risk for their own life or that indicates any tendency for that gets immediate and fast help as reliably as possible wherever they may come from,” said Isakson.

In addition, according to the Government Accountability Office report, the VA lacks consistent guidelines for assessing wait times for veterans receiving mental health care and veterans were waiting up to 57 days after their original request for a mental health appointment. At certain clinics, staff were encouraging veterans to seek care at emergency “open-access” clinics instead of booking appointments for them. Staff also were keeping an unofficial list of veterans needing appointments to avoid putting these veterans on official wait lists that could get them in trouble for making veterans wait too long.

Isakson sought assurances from Dr. Harold Kudler, chief consultant for Mental Health Services at the VA, about what the VA is doing to ensure that problems at the “open-access” clinics are isolated and not indicative of a larger issue, especially given last year’s wait time scandal at the Phoenix VA Medical Center.

“The last thing we need to do in the VA health services is continue or do anything that perpetuates the memory of what happened…in Phoenix in terms of the manipulation of data. Whatever is reported to us needs to be an accurate reflection of the timelessness of service veterans are getting,” said Isakson.

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The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 114th Congress.

Isakson is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate VA Committee since he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations representing each branch of the military as well as more than 750,000 veterans.