Adding Army doctors

Monday, Aug. 10, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.

The Army’s medical system gets a C-minus grade from Sheila Casey, wife of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, because of trouble soldiers and their families have getting in to see a doctor. Some soldiers may think that grade is too generous.

USA Today recently reported that a survey found 16 percent of the Army’s patients, particularly soldiers’ families, can’t get timely appointments with their primary care physicians.

The Army says 90 percent of patients should be able to see a primary care doctor within seven days. But 26 of the Army’s 36 major hospitals can’t meet that standard. Most notable was the hospital at Fort Bragg, N.C., which is able to provide timely care to only 60 percent of its patients.

Fort Bragg is home to the Army’s special operations units and the 82nd Airborne Division, which have been regularly deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. The failure at this base is particularly troubling because of the stress and medical issues faced by returning combat veterans.

The delays are also costing the Army money. Patients who can’t be seen in a timely manner are sent off base to seek treatment from private doctors and urgent care clinics — on the Army’s dime.

Col. Ken Canestrini, who is in charge of improving soldiers’ access to medical care, says there simply aren’t enough physicians to care for soldiers in combat or those at home. As a result, hospital commanders have overloaded doctors with too many patients, which raises a concern about the quality of the care.

Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general, recently gave permission for 12 hospitals to hire more doctors, and that is a good start. It won’t, however, go far enough to cover the problem. The soldiers who have put their lives at risk for the country, and their families, deserve better. The Army should find a way to ramp up its medical staffing as quickly as it can.