“We have been raising concerns about this rehab contract since before it really even got implemented ⦠and nobody’s listening,” said union president Virginia Vaillancourt.
Vaillancourt said “unrealistic” turnaround times from the contractor are making it difficult for case managers to review and approve rehabilitation plans on time as they also manage their own caseloads.Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay was not made available to answer questions Monday. In a written statement, a spokeswoman for his office said the program is already delivering services to thousands of veterans at 800 locations, and said cancelling it would be immensely irresponsible.
“Case managers are not clinical experts in physiotherapy, psychiatry, or vocational training, and they have never directly provided these services to veterans. The work of case managers is not and has never been contracted out.” “And Lifemark is actually paying less than what they were getting paid through Blue Cross,” she said, adding that some service providers have stopped working with veterans as a result.