matt rupp Negative Review of Spokane VA Medical Center
As a 100% permanent and total veteran, I expect my healthcare to reflect the respect, efficiency, and care that I and my fellow veterans deserve. Unfortunately, my experiences with the Spokane VA have consistently fallen short of these expectations, leaving me frustrated, disappointed, and feeling marginalized.
The primary care team assigned to me has failed to provide adequate support, and communication is nearly nonexistent. Getting someone on the phone is almost impossible, as the facility does not offer a way to contact front desks directly to inform them of running late for an appointment, ask simple questions, or confirm details. The only option is to leave a message, with no guarantee of a callback. In my experience, only about 20% of messages are returned, forcing me to rely on the VA’s cumbersome online messaging platform. Even then, I can only send messages if I know the specific person or department to contact, which is often not the case. This leaves me no choice but to physically visit the campus to find the right office, a process that is neither efficient nor convenient.
The lack of accountability extends to basic scheduling. On one occasion, I scheduled an appointment in person, only to receive calls from the same staff member on four separate occasions—the day of scheduling, the next day, a week later, and a month later—each time claiming the appointment was submitted. Despite their assurances, it never was. Ultimately, I had to find the same doctor at their private community office and pay out of pocket to avoid the VA’s bureaucratic inefficiency.
The disparity in care is also glaring. While I’ve seen my spouse receive excellent care, including follow-up calls and detailed breakdowns of results and recommendations, I’ve never experienced such attention or service. The contrast is both disheartening and unacceptable.
I’ve reached out to the Patient Advocate multiple times, both in person and through the VA’s messaging system, to address these ongoing issues. While I appreciate their efforts, the time I’ve invested has yielded no tangible improvements. The system seems broken, with little urgency or accountability to address veterans’ needs.
As a well-educated veteran with extensive business experience, I understand the challenges of managing operations and processes. However, the inefficiency, lack of communication, and disregard I’ve encountered at the Spokane VA are inexcusable. This facility and its staff require a complete overhaul to address systemic issues and provide the level of care veterans deserve. While I would willingly contribute to such changes, the current state of the VA healthcare system makes such efforts untenable.
My experience with the Spokane VA has been a disheartening reminder of the work that needs to be done to ensure veterans receive timely, effective, and compassionate care. I hope this review serves as a wake-up call for the leadership of this facility to prioritize the needs of the veterans it is meant to serve.
1 /5
Adreanna My grandfather spent his last few months in the CLC and VA hospice. They not only took care of my grandfather, but us, too. The care of every staff member made our last few months together the best it could be. We were able to spend time with him as family and not as caregivers.
5 /5
Jason Spears 10/18/2024 Youre kidding right? Help veterans? Im lucky to have great medical insurance that doesnt involve the Spokane VA at Mann-Grandstaff. 60 days to process a referral (made in AUG 2024) to get an appointment for January 2025. "Were short staffed" "no funding" is the answer. No wonder veterans are dying. The Spokane VA doesnt answer their phones and when they do, they transfer you to different departments that also dont answer their phones. Its a cycle of not only incompetence, but negligence. Waiting on these referrals is a death sentence for some veterans sadly. Unfortunately, its the only place most veterans have to get help, or in this case, not to get help.
10/22/2024 **UPDATE* Just got off the phone with the "VA Patient Advocate" and let me tell you about all the deflection and "we process 8,0000 appointments a day". If that were the case, the why does it take "8-12" weeks to process a referral to even get an appointment? Additionally, the "VA Patient Advocate" stated that no matter what issues we call, email, review, or talk about, it all goes back to the "VA Patient Advocate" and its just a circle and the patient advocate actually does nothing. Anyone that was in the military knows the " VA Patient Advocate" advocates for the business part of the VA rather than the actual patient and veteran. No wonder veterans die everyday to the lack of efficiency and red tape like they have at Spokane VA at Mann-Grandstaff.
1 /5
Alicia My 83 year old grandfather was seen today for Covid. 15 years ago he suffered a massive heart attack that left him with 1/3 of his heart. He has been experiencing severe Covid symptoms for nearly 5 days. He finally had his appointment, no doctor was available. Nurse told him there is no way to shorten or lessen the severity of Covid (even though there are 3 drugs on the market that say otherwise). She didnt take his blood pressure or even his oxygen levels and essentially told him to go home and rest, even though his main complaint is shortness of breath!!!!!
BUT IT GETS BETTER. She then proceeded to give him the RSV vaccine. Now, im not sure where she went to medical school but before ANY vaccine myself, husband or child have ever received they always ask "Have you been ill in the last 72 hrs?"
So why was a compromised 83 year old given a vaccine while sick???? Your guess is as good as mine
1 /5
Jarid Sox This has been the worst and most stressful healthcare experience that I have had. As of writing this, it’s been 8 weeks since I moved. My appointment with my new primary care provider isn’t for another 7 weeks. The VA won’t get me approved for the treatments that I already approved at my last VA center because I haven’t seen a new primary care provider.
Now to explain what makes that situation even more frustrating: before moving states I told the VA months in advance and asked to transfer my care and wasn’t allowed. I was told I needed physically move before I could establish care. Once I got here and tried, it took me a month and a half to finally even get an appointment set. I would call and get no answer. I called on 3 separate occasions and got told “I needed to be pulled over to the Spokane system from my previous location”. After getting assured 3 times it had been done and not getting any headway because I was told to “call back the next day after the system reset” I contacted patient advocacy. Finally someone was competent enough to get me an appointment with primary care out of the Coeur d Alene VA clinic but it wasn’t for another 9 weeks from the time of the appointment finally being set.
I brought up that I’d already been without my healthcare for a month and a half and was told I would be called by the end of the day for a referral. I didn’t receive a call and when I called back well past 72 business hours later, I was told that I “should have been contacted by September 4th” and that was the only information I got before being told that they’d send yet another email. After finally going into the clinic in person during a work day that I had to take time off to do, the Coeur d Alene clinic had not even seen a request from me to get seen. Each new person that I talk to gives me the sure tired line about “sorry sir I’ll try to get this taken care of but it’s up to____” and there’s always a new reason that it’s not their fault. This is the reason VA healthcare has a bad name. You are everything that’s wrong with our healthcare system and every single employee that I’ve had the displeasure of speaking to has acted like an hourly phone center worker who’s 5 minutes from clocking out and doesn’t care.
1 /5