Sunday, September 28, 2008
YOUNGSTOWN — Veterans need to use the Veterans Affairs Youngstown Outpatient Clinic on Belmont Avenue or potentially lose services, VA officials said.
It’s “use it or lose it,” said Mark Bell, clinical administrator for the Youngstown VA.
Funding for VA facilities is based on usage, and though the number of patients treated at the Belmont VA Clinic has been up and down over the last few years, the trend is down, Bell said.
The Youngstown VA clinic treated 10,669 patients in fiscal year 2005; 11,599 in 2006; 10,583 in 2007; and 10,719 to date in fiscal 2008, which ends Sept. 31, according to Joseph Kohut, director of primary care line and community-based outpatient services for the VA regional that includes Youngstown.
Kohut said the number of patients treated by a VA facility determines its funding level two years later. For instance, this year’s budget was a reflection of the patients treated in 2006, and the 2009 budget will reflect the lower number of patients treated in 2007.
Bell is not suggesting that closing the Youngstown Outpatient Clinic, at 2031 Belmont, is imminent. But, he said there is already evidence of what can happen when the VA sees a reduction in the number of patients.
The clinic’s mobile annex, at 2007 Belmont, which opened only two years ago, was closed in August because of decreased usage.
The annex originally housed mental health services while internal remodeling was done at the main clinic. Also, physical therapy was moved into the annex from the Warren Outpatient Clinic in the former St. Joseph Riverside Hospital, and podiatry and optometry was moved there from the main Belmont Clinic. This summer, those services were squeezed back into the main Belmont Clinic.
Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com