COLUMBIA – Kicking off Memorial Day weekend, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today announced that the newest round of results of her Missouri veterans’ secret shopper program show encouraging results, while identifying areas for possible improvement.
McCaskill launched her Veterans’ Customer Satisfaction Program (VCSP), a confidential survey, to give thousands of Missouri veterans an opportunity to offer direct, meaningful feedback on the quality of service they receive at their local VA facility.
The combined surveys-over the course of 9 reports in 3 regions-have so far found that an average of 61 percent of veterans rated their overall experience with the VA Medical Centers as Excellent or Above Average, with another 17.4 percent rating their experience as Fair. An average of 78 percent surveyed said they would recommend their VA facility to other veterans.
Nearly 1,000 Missouri veterans participated in this year’s surveys, and the program is now in its fourth year.
“For me, the best way to find out whether veterans are receiving the high quality of customer service they deserve is simply by listening to them, said McCaskill, the daughter of a World War II veteran and a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We launched these surveys to give us a real snapshot of the quality of service Missouri veterans are receiving, and an opportunity for them to offer meaningful feedback to us and to the VA on their experiences and how those experiences can be improved. It’s clear there are areas for improvement, and I won’t stop working to get these numbers higher-but I’m generally encouraged by the progress we’ve seen over the past four years, and I think other states could learn a lesson from this effort.”
The survey is now active in three regions: St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia. In Columbia, 90 percent of veterans surveyed would recommend their VA facility to other veterans, and nearly 80 percent rate their experience as Excellent or Above Average. Veterans ranked the largest improvements in timeliness to see a provider and the cleanliness of the facility. In St. Louis, the survey showed double-digit improvements in veterans’ attitudes on communication by the VA staff at the facility, length of time waiting to be seen by a provider, and willingness to recommend the VA facility to other veterans. In Kansas City, 77.5 percent indicated they would recommend the VA facility to other veterans.
Full survey results can be found HERE for Columbia, HERE for St. Louis, HERE for Kansas City.
Veterans can visit http://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/vcsp to participate in the survey.
Following a series of highly publicized incidents in 2010 which called into question the high standard of care provided by the St. Louis VA Medical Center – John Cochran Division, McCaskill enlisted Missouri veterans and VA administrators to help assess the overall quality of customer service. In response, McCaskillannounced the secret shopper program for veterans to rate the quality of service at Missouri VA facilities and provide the VA with targeted, helpful feedback about veterans’ positive and negative experiences at the VA medical centers. The VA’s independent watchdog confirmed in 2012 that the problems at Cochran had largely been corrected.