Senator McCaskill says low customer satisfaction at Missouri Veteran’s hospitals is unaccebtable.  The Cochran Medical Center has corrected its sterilization problems from earlier this year, but

McCaskill says it has other problems to focus on. She says Veterans’ hospitals and clinics received a nearly 70 percent funding increase — going from about $5 million to $50 million — so lack of resources is no longer a viable excuse.

McCaskill says they’re going to work with veterans organizations to set up something similar to a secret shopper program. She’s set a goal for two years to see a marked improvement in customer satisfaction at veterans’ health care facilities in Missouri.

McCaskill says the Cochran Medical Center in St. Louis has a customer satisfaction level that is at an all-time low — some of the lowest customer satisfaction surveys in the country, which she calls unacceptable. She says our veterans deserve a health care facility that is friendly and accessible.

She says they’re going to set up a secret shopper system where feedback can be monitored and followed up on.

Public outcry ensued after Cochran announced earlier this year that its sterilization process was faulty, putting some patients at risk for blood-borne illnesses such as Hepatitis and HIV. Senator McCaskill says she thinks the center handled the situation correctly … and with transparency.

The VA investigated, and three months later notified the more than 1,800 affected veterans that they may have been exposed to infection.

McCaskill recently met with hospital leaders, veterans and advocates at Cochran.

She says veterans say it’s difficult to get an appointment, find their way around the large facility or even park. They also complained of being treated rudely and said staffers “talked down to them.”

Jessica Machetta reports [Mp3]