WASHINGTON — Officials with the Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday the new hospital being built in Aurora will not be able to serve as many veterans as before.
The revelation came during a House hearing by the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs over the hospital, which is $1 billion over budget and years behind schedule.
Rep. Mike Coffman said Tuesday the hospital will finally open in August.
The new Aurora facility will have fewer primary examination rooms, fewer surgical beds, fewer psychiatric beds, no post-traumatic stress disorder exam facility, and fewer Patient Aligned Care Teams, who are medical professionals charged with assisting vets.
All of this is despite the fact the new hospital is double the square footage of the current facility in Denver.
It was also revealed the old Denver VA hospital will have to stay open for three to five years based off estimates by Committee Chairman Phil Roe.
“I am just amazed at the lack of professionalism,” Coffman told VA officials, including Stella Fiotes, the top contracting official at the VA.
“It’s an affront to the taxpayers of the United States,” suggesting the VA secretary should “clean house.”
VA officials said the project will never be replicated again and that they share the concerns of the members of Congress.
“It is going to be very very expensive to keep this old hospital open” – @RepMikeCoffman
— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) January 17, 2018
VA officials blame the low unemployment rate in Metro Denver for not being able to fill open positions at VA Hospital
— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) January 17, 2018
“It is going to be very very expensive to keep this old hospital open” – @RepMikeCoffman
— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) January 17, 2018
“I don’t know how you can be in the position that you are in” – @RepMikeCoffman to VA officials in lack of exam rooms and no PTSD service
— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) January 17, 2018
“We are confident we can meet staffing needs” VA officials on the fact several hundreds jobs still need to be hired at Aurora hospital
— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) January 17, 2018
