By The Capital Journal | The Topeka Capital-Journal

Friday’s announcement of the suspension of emergency room operations at Topeka’s Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center drew reactions ranging from disappointment to outrage by two members of the Kansas congressional delegation.

U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Republican from Topeka whose 2nd Congressional District includes the facility, said she had been talking for months with local and federal VA officials about allegations of deficiencies in health care at Colmery-O’Neil.

The inability of the center to staff its emergency room on a 24/7 basis with a full-time physician forced a downgrade to a temporary urgent care status, hospital officials said at a news conference Friday.

“While I am disappointed, it had to come to the temporary closure of operations in the emergency room,” Jenkins said in a statement, “I am pleased that these allegations are being taken seriously and that concrete steps are being taken to ensure veterans in northeast Kansas get the absolute greatest care they are entitled to.”

Jenkins said she will work with the VA during what she hopes “will be a thorough investigation with swift corrective actions to make this a fully functional VA medical center.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, immediately blasted the move as another failure of the Veterans Administration.

“Veterans who have served our nation with duty and honor deserve access to quality health care when they need it,” Moran said in a news release. “Because Kansas is a rural state, many of our veterans are already forced to travel long distances to visit a VA hospital. Now, Topeka veterans are losing access to the emergency care services they could need at any moment.”

Moran said the situation was “outrageous” and said it was “far past time” for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and the VA “to do their job.”

“I have asked time and again about their failure to address the tremendous shortage of VA physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants,” Moran said. “It is causing a new VA backlog — a backlog of our nation’s heroes who are not receiving the health care they need.”

Moran in November 2013 introduced legislation to expand emergency care treatment reimbursement eligibility for veterans.

He noted that current law prohibits the VA from reimbursing emergency room care at non-VA facilities for veterans who haven’t received care at a VA clinic or hospital within the past two years. Moran’s bill would waive the two-year requirement and allow veterans to be reimbursed for emergency medical care at non-VA facilities. The measure is awaiting a vote in the full Senate.