VA MEDICAL CENTER LAYOFFS COMING; WEST L.A. FACILITY CITES BUDGET WOES, LESS DEMAND FOR CARE.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

Citing the need to cut its budget by $11 million and a declining demand for inpatient care, the Veterans Administration Medical Center in West Los Angeles is planning staff cutbacks, including the layoff of several doctors next week.

The plan has irked local veterans who say it's another example of how the U.S. government is shortchanging the men and women who fought for their country.

``I think it's a crock,'' said Robert Myers, a 76-year-old World War II veteran who lives in Northridge. ``They say they're going to do so much more for veterans, and all your hear about is cuts. As more and more veterans are getting older and need facilities, they're cutting back.''

Next week the medical center is set to send out layoff notices to some 20 doctors, said David Bayard, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. A second round of staff reductions later this year could affect as many as 70 nurses.

Myers said veterans in the San Fernando Valley are particularly wary of cutbacks because of the 1994 closure of inpatient services at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration Medical Center. Since then, veterans have had to use the West Los Angeles facility for inpatient stays.

Bayard said the West Los Angeles hospital is facing an $11 million budget cut this year, and that the organization as a whole is following the trend toward providing more outpatient care.

``There's a dramatic shift in medicine from inpatient care to outpatient care,'' he said. ``We have to modernize. Patient care will not be compromised.''

The downsizing of the staff at the West Los Angeles facility is necessary because of a lower demand for inpatient care services. Back in 1980, the hospital was filling 1,204 beds a day. In 1996, it was using an average of 771.

Bayard said that is because of both the shift to outpatient care and a decline in the overall population of veterans.

``We're seeing fewer patients in the hospital,'' he said. ``The ranks are getting thinner.''

But Charlie Acquistapace, a 77-year-old veteran from Van Nuys, said the demand is dropping because of VA policies and poor quality of care in its hospitals - not because of a lack of veterans.

Acquistapace said he does not qualify for services at VA medical centers because the government says he can afford to pay for his own health care.

``They're making it so tough to qualify that you can't get in. It's not to the benefit of any of us,'' he said. ``The veterans have to fight like hell to get any services.''

While Acquistapace said he would take advantage of outpatient services if he could, he said he would not stay in a VA hospital for inpatient care because of the poor quality of service he has witnessed while visiting friends.

``People are not being taken care of,'' he said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs employs about 210,000 people nationwide. It has cut about 40,000 positions in the past five years, Bayard said.

He said the West Los Angeles facility would have started cutting doctors and nurses gradually for the past five years, but was hampered by legislation making it difficult to cut VA medical staffing.

Recently, Congress made changes allowing the VA hospitals to lay off doctors and nurses, he said.

The West Los Angeles VA Medical Center has 3,280 employees, including 212 physicians and dentists.

Veterans in the San Fernando Valley protested two years ago when the VA cut inpatient services from its Sepulveda Medical Center when it was rebuilt after the Northridge Earthquake. That facility had been filling more than 250 beds a day before its closure.

But even with the extra Valley veterans, Bayard said the number of beds being used at the West Los Angeles facility dropped from 962 in 1995 to 771 in 1996.