Veterans should be able to receive mental health care as a benefit through the Veterans Health Administration. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, as AHCJ member and frequent Military.com contributor Patricia Kime discovered.
His recent investigative report, “Canceled Appointments, Unexplained Confusions – Veterans Face Difficulty Getting VA Mental Health Care”, found that the cancellation rate for in-person and telehealth mental health appointments at VA facilities averaged 10.6% from 2020 to 2023, and in some facilities it was as high as 21%. Kime spent about a year telling her story, including interviewing more than a dozen veterans and current and former VA employees about their experiences. The work, supported by the Pulitzer Center, was part of a series covering the effects of PACTE lawlegislation that expanded VA health care benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.
In this “How I Did It,” Kime spoke with AHCJ about her efforts and shared her tips for balancing longer investigations and daily news.
Answers have been lightly edited for brevity.
How did this story come about?
A colleague of mine, Drew Lawrence, had gotten a tip from someone who worked for the VA who said, “Hey, there’s some trouble going on here. There aren’t many referrals and there are a lot of cancellations. Drew told me about it. I looked through my emails and saw that a few people had written to me over the last couple of years to discuss cancellations, so I contacted some of them to see if there was a trend . We also did some crowdsourcing. Drew posted a message on Reddit’s r/Veterans site saying that if you’re having a problem with mental health appointments being canceled, DM me to see if there were any trends . That was the nugget behind it all.
How did you find veterans to interview?
We started with people who responded to us on Reddit. We interviewed them and asked them to provide proof that they had made appointments that were canceled. A reporter I know at another publication gave me a source he interviewed but was unable to use. I also contacted two sources from a story in ProPublica who focused on issues at a VA clinic, to ask specific questions about cancellations.
Next, I really needed data. One group that has long complained about wait times is Concerned Veterans for America. They had filed a FOIA complaint to obtain data, which they shared with me. I had that as a basis, but it was old and involved cancellations that largely covered the start of the pandemic. We filed our own FOIA to try to get updated data. This is where we really ran into problems because the VA changed their databases and how they kept that information. They had created the cancellation information only for CVA. Because (the most recent cancellations) were not already generated data, it did not fall under FOIA. Finally, as I was about to write the final product, the VA public affairs office gave me everything I wanted. I also read the Office of Inspector General’s reports on veterans affairs and suicides to see if they were related to canceled appointments. That’s how I found a lawyer to interview.
What was important to you in telling this story?
About 17 veterans commit suicide every day. The VA is proud to say, “Come to the VA to get your mental health care, we want you.” » But I’ve covered this topic long enough to hear veterans’ concerns that the VA wants them to go to group therapy and they want individualized therapy. They work very hard, but it’s not a perfect system. Giving veterans a voice has always been my philosophy. I started covering military health care in 2011 and I am a military spouse. I feel very passionate about exposing things that maybe need solutions and need to be addressed.
Has this story led to any changes?
On November 7, a bipartisan group of 13 lawmakers led by Reps. Marilyn Strickland (D-WA) and Mike Waltz (R-FL) sent a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough to express concern about veterans’ access to mental health resources, essentially saying it was unacceptable and asking the department to provide information within 30 days on how which it will solve the problem. (Kime covered this in a follow-up article). I didn’t know anything about it until a member of Congress contacted me and asked where the data for my story came from. I’ve received a lot of emails and potentially have an idea for a follow-up article from a whistleblower who read the article.
Any advice for AHCJ members on pursuing longer investigations?
The hardest part is always time management. I didn’t really have a deadline because I was waiting for the FOIA. But be sure to schedule time to complete big projects. I get distracted by the daily news and find myself in a situation where I have to cover the daily news. But I’ve always found doing the daily stories extremely helpful, because I get feedback that leads to bigger projects. I often get a lot of advice from having covered this topic for a very long time and being a name in the world of veteran journalists. It helps to be active, even if it’s just reposting an article you find interesting, on social media. Becoming known as someone who covers certain topics earns you more tips and more sources.