VA nursing home woes will be explored at congressional hearing in Camarillo

U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley will hold a congressional subcommittee hearing in Camarillo on July 30. It will explore VA long-term care.

Controversies over care and antipsychotic drugs at VA nursing homes will likely spill into an upcoming congressional hearing in Camarillo.

U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Westlake Village, is organizing a field hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health that will focus on VA long-term care. The July 30 session will explore everything from adult day care for veterans to nursing home care.

More veterans coverage:

The hearing comes as the subcommittee’s parent body, the House Veteran Affairs Committee, pursues an investigation into the quality of care at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 133 nursing homes, including two in a service region that includes Ventura County.

The investigation follows reporting by USA TODAY and The Boston Globe on VA documents withheld from the public and involving quality-of-care ratings. The documents show many of the health system’s nursing homes — called community living centers — lag behind private facilities.

The ratings reveal struggles in controlling bedsores, dealing with pain and enabling residents to perform daily living tasks on their own such as using the bathroom.

The stories also suggest the VA facilities rely more heavily on anti-psychotic medicine.

“If what you’re saying is true, that’s 100 percent unacceptable,” Brownley said Tuesday.

VA doesn’t operate any nursing homes in Ventura County but runs community living centers in West Los Angeles and Sepulveda. Both fared better than many of the government facilities, with the West L.A. home earning a rating of four out of five stars. The Sepulveda site received a three-star rating, according to USA TODAY and The Boston Globe.

MORE:This Vietnam War memorial is 'the wall that heals'

About 60 of the 133 VA nursing homes received a one-star rating.

Brownley said the findings and concerns about care could emerge in the July 30 hearing.

“While the VA community living centers in our area performed well, I am still very concerned about the overall underperformance of many VA nursing homes across the country, as well as the apparent lack of transparency from the VA,” she said. “We must hold the VA to the highest possible standard of care.”

In Ventura County, VA contracts with private nursing homes to provide care and also provides funding to a 60-bed assisted living veterans home run by the state in east Ventura. Seven similar CalVet homes sprawl across the state with some providing nursing home care.

Brownley said the state-run homes will be covered in a hearing designed to explore what kind of care works well and what does not.

VA also contracts with the Oxnard Family Circle for adult day health care. About 100 veterans come to the program for meals, social interaction, therapy and even showers, if needed.

“It completely substitutes a nursing home,” said Family Circle co-owner Katy Krul, who will talk about the program at the hearing. “The fact they’re with us means they can live at home.”

MORE:Pets for Vets aims to make 'lifetime match' for veterans, rescue dogs

The hearing will also likely cover other VA programs designed to keep veterans out of nursing homes, including a medical foster care program that offers care in private homes. A VA representative will testify, as will Mike McManus, Ventura County’s veteran service officer.

Two members of the subcommittee — Brownley and Rep. Neal Dunn, a Republican from Florida — will attend.

If Pat Gonzales could add something to the VA system, it might be a translator trained at making sense of what seems like a foreign language.

On Wednesday, the 72-year-old Newbury Park woman sat in the courtyard of a private Oxnard nursing home that’s paid by VA to provide care for veterans. Her husband, Jim Gonzales, who served three tours in Vietnam, was there recovering from disk surgery that affected his mobility, increased his risk of falling and brought temporary delirium.

He came out of surgery thinking he was back in 1967 — back in Vietnam.

“He didn’t know me,” said Pat, who is now struggling to figure out exactly what happened and to make sure her husband gets as much physical therapy as needed.

MORE:Ventura City Council selects veterans housing developer

She’s also trying to make sure all of the care is being covered by Medicare or VA. It is, though she convinced herself at one point the family could be on the hook for 20 percent.

What she wants is a system that is less confusing and more transparent.

“They won’t give you any information,” she said of VA. “You have to find out for yourself.”

The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. on July 30 at the Ventura County Office of Education, 5100 Adolfo Road, Camarillo.

People can register at https://juliabrownley.house.gov/events or call 805-379-1779.