Washington, D.C. - Today, Congressman Joe Donnelly announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has pushed back the target opening date of the Elkhart County Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC).
“I was disappointed to learn that the target opening date of the CBOC in Goshen has been pushed back,” Donnelly said. ”I plan to keep working and communicating with the VA to ensure that the CBOC opens as soon as possible.”
It was announced in May of this year that the VA would open a CBOC in Elkhart County in February 2008. It was then reported by The Elkhart Truth on September 1st, 2007 that the opening of the clinic might be delayed. Donnelly and Congressman Mark Souder (R-IN-03) wrote to VA Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management William Feely to confirm what had been reported, ask about the reason for the potential delay and offer their assistance to help facilitate the opening of the CBOC. The response from the VA was sent to Donnelly and Souder on the afternoon of Friday, October 5th.
In the letter to Donnelly and Souder, the VA offered the following explanation for the delayed opening:
“The original estimate for opening the Goshen CBOC was established for February 2008. However, it became apparent that additional time would be required for the technical reviews during the contracting process and implementation steps such as location of suitable space and credential and privilege qualified clinicians. As a result, we now feel that the clinic can be expected to open late March to mid-May 2008.”
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