Veterans Administration Contact info...

[Jay]

Thought some of you folks may find some of this info useful.......


VA contact info

Semper Fi

[Canis-Lupus]

Very nice Jay,
That is exactly the type of information this social group needs access to.
I thank you for posting such a useful way to contact just about anyone worth contacting or for reference in the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The sad part about the whole deal is the folks who make or break the laws that control the V.A. are going to be 'out to lunch' soon leaving many issues unresolved for the next Senate and Congress to deal with under a new president and his staff.
But the links will remain unchanged even if the brass moves out.
Regards,

Canis-Lupus

[Canis-Lupus]

This landed into my Inbox right from the Veterans advocates who send me e-mails from CapWiz, if you are a Vet some one is going to get cash destined for your care again to bail out piss-poor finacial management in a sector that has nothing to do with Vets or the money they will suck out of promises made, and broken again to us if this flies. If bailing AIG out suits your agenda, do nothing with this post.

Oppose AIG Bailout - Restore Deleted Benefits for Veterans and Widows Oppose AIG Bailout

Take Action!

Restore Deleted Benefits for Veterans and Widows Send the following to your elected officials --
I oppose the $85,000,000,000 bailout of AIG. Rather, I favor using the $85 Billion to fund the veterans and widows benefits that were deleted from the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act.
Specifically, I refer to the full restoration of benefits for the following three groups:
61,000 widows whose Survivor's Benefit Payments (SBP) are offset by the VA Dependency Indemnification Compensation (DIC). Recall that the SBP annuity was purchased from the spouse's military retirement pay and that the DIC was awarded because the spouse died of service connected causes.
400,000 retired veterans with less than 50% disability under Concurrent Retirement Disability Pay (CRDP, 10 US Code 1414).
188,000 disabled veterans medically retired for disability under 10 US Code Chapter 61 with less than 20 years.
I find it interesting that while these provisions were removed from the 2009 NDAA not one earmark of pork was similarly treated. I think your priorities are wrong.

Canis-Lupus

[Canis-Lupus]

This article was pulled off Veterans Today, the source I use to gather most of what I post to this social group. It is common practice for a V.A. healthcare provider to enter some pretty damning/incorrect entries into your medical records and unless you ask for a copy of them at the V.A. facility where they are stored you will never know. The form you fill out at medical records office will get you what you ask for in due time under the FOI act. It will be mailed to the address U enter and U must specify what parts of your records you want (periods/incident/illness, etc.)
In 2006 I was hospitalized in our local V.A. MedCen for 8 days due to a venous-stasis ulcer on my left ankle, 3 weeks after it started I got to see my primary care provider, the only person who could write for long term strong pain meds I needed, as I was way beyond Tylenol pain control. It was also infected at that point, I almost lost my foot! When the doctor 'examined' it she pushed HARD into the weeping ulcer. I screamed out in utter unbearable pain and followed that with a litany of colorful language, so she entered into my medical records (which I got a copy of 1 month after d/c) "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder related anger outburst." I blew up and requested a formal quality assurance review of her mis-diagnosis and it was struck/erased from my records, she received a formal letter of reprimand and I was assigned a new provider. I would have had no idea she had screwed me SO bad if I had not got those records. Unexpected, acute & sudden pain will bring on atypical behavior in any one, it was not PTSD, it was her mis-diagnosis and piss-poor follow up, if I had been admitted for PTSD I should have seen a shrink (ya think?), never happened, it was a surgical admit with a proper diagnosis of poor vascular flow common with Vets who have spent 20 years on their feet or running/marching around 10-12 hrs a day! Confronted by me in her office she denied even writing the entry until I showed her the paper with her damning signatures on it then she got real zip-lip and I went to see the Patient Advocate to rain on her quackery! She no loger works for the V.A. thank God!
Beware what the V.A. enters into your records! Get copies, it's the law,
Regards,

Canis Lupus

My name is William Rist, and currently there is an issue inside the Denver Va hospital concerning physicians who have put information into my medical records without my knowledge or consent, which is a violation of patient rights.
If you are a veteran within the VA Health care system, then it is important for you to copy your VA medical records. I am a veteran who has been violated twice by physicians both on active-duty as well as in the VA healthcare system.
I believe that veterans need to pay more attention to the activity of what physicians are doing. In my case there has been tampering of my medical records on both active duty and in the VA healthcare system without my knowledge or consent. Veterans are protecting "America" but who is protecting the veterans in our healthcare system?
I would encourage all veterans on both active-duty and in the VA healthcare system, to copy your medical records and to obtain a copy of your patient rights and responsibilities. Veterans need to protect veterans and their families, against medical malpractice in the healthcare system.

[Jay]

Just a suggestion....... don't damn the VA for the actions of one or two providers. 98% of the folks in the VA system bust their butts to see that Vets get excellent care. Kinda like motorcycle riders, one or two a$$holes give all riders a bad name.

The form you fill out at medical records office will get you what you ask for in due time under the FOI act. It will be mailed to the address U enter and U must specify what parts of your records you want (periods/incident/illness, etc.)

If the medical records department you go to is in the same facility where you receive your care, you may obtain most records in a matter of an hour or so. Duplication of an entire medical record will probably require that the record be mailed to you. If you visit a doctor on Monday, it will usually be Wed or later before the notes are available for us to copy for you. REMEMBER, the person you talk to regarding copies of your records has absolutely no control over what those records contain. Honey will get your records faster than horseradish. I know, because I work in medical records at a VA hospital.

[Canis-Lupus]

Jay it is all high-speed global data linked (a closed secure domain *@med.va.gov ) access now. Wherever you find yourself in the U.S. and many allied nations where links to U.S. Vet care is available thru local U.S. military bases with MTF's or their civilian hospitals on contract to the V.A. they can pull your entire active duty and Veteran records up in a simple last-4 SSN search as fast as you can log-on to USA-Carry. Yes 99% of the time most Veterans do get damn good timely and precise services. My post was about the notes entered you do not see until you get copies by providers or lab staff or the nurses who watched over you asleep and charted what they saw who you never meet. You seem to think I am V.A. provider bashing, I beg to differ, I think the Department of Veterans Affairs runs the model government-run HMO for ex-service-men & women period, and I am one of it's strongest supporters. Check out a few posts I made to Vets and Guns about McCain outsourcing disabled Vets with vouchers to civilian hospitals and dismantling it, or what he deems is s/c or just BS, they got me a lot of flack and I stick by that dread if he gets elected and goes ahead with that abomination of a plan. So for 10 years the V.A. has been my only health care provider, I would not go anywhere else. If I can not post about the experiences of a Vet who found erroneous data in his file, and just by chance so did I and just about every Vet who has got their complete (Active duty & V.A.) records finds some data missing or incorrect then I think I am doing you and 20 million other Vets healthy or 100% disabled a service not burning up wood-pulp. You leap to pick up the colors of a V.A. system you may think I bash is not needed, I already was running new very FUBAR Vets thru complex comp & pen hearings a decade ago as a free-lance VSO, not just being a grateful customer, so please give me a small amount of credit for supporting the only system that is keeping my Hep-C riddled body alive day by day. My local V.A. MedCen is full of outstanding providers, and all the ancillary staff that makes it shine come JCAHO accreditation time, the litmus test for any HMO if like me you ever ran large units in fixed military hospitals. I speak as a ex-provider, a part of the MEDCOM team, and now as a disabled Vet, so tell me something about a V.A. or military hospital I don't know. I don't mean to brag, but if you were a mechanic for the Navy I would trust your spin on good engines/models from bad ones. Now do you see my point?
Find something useful & informative to all Vets to post to this social group like others have done with links and phone numbers, or my stack of links to make all vets lives and health care just a bit easier.
Your commitment to the D of VA is commendable but a reminder about that small percentage of over-worked and under paid bad apples fills every level of anything the government gets it's hands on and had I not got a copy of a complete lie about my medical status for 8 lousy days in-patient when I was close to losing my foot I would be walking around in blissful ignorance that this albatross of mis-diagnosis that quack stuck it in there was following me around with every visit to a V.A. anything but I didn't like what I saw and she was forced to remove it. You work in a medical records department, you have a lot of G2 to share with your fellow Vets, it would be nice to see some of it posted here my friend. End of story.
Have a nice Columbus Day weekend,

Canis-Lupus

[Jay]

The VA is trying to get to ALL data, but things are NOT paperless as of now. Salute to you for what you do for Vets, but I was not bashing. Apologies if you took it that way. Chill out. All due respect, but it only took five sentences to say this.

[Canis-Lupus]

Ever wonder why us wolves howl ALL night long, when all we want is our M8 or some juicy fat sheep?
No sweat Jay, record [short] post..under 100 words
BTW some links I'd love you to slap up on Vets and Guns @ your speed, the FOI form, release of medical information, request for medical records form, and any other commonly used Adobe downloadable forms us Vets could fill-in @ home B 4 we all crowd up your waiting area and drain your Skillcraft pens, or 'borrow' 'em! Just an idea.


C-L

[Jay]

When I get to work on Tuesday, I'll gather what I can and get it on here. Be happy to help.

[Canis-Lupus]

Perfect Jay!
Not sure if the OP 329 POLST is in Adobe, it's a bit of planning many Vets never even know exists yet is so vital, then find out to their horror that they are stuck on vegitative life support for the duration in a V.A. nursing home or MEDICARE/MEDICAID facility, as without one of those, the V.A. (or someone) will keep U going even if 'no one is home', then charge your NOK per day. Got my DNR green laminated copy posted by my front door & in my V.A. records. Never heard about the V.A. having a generic Power of Attorney either, cost me a small chunk for a local attorney to draft one up for me, plus 'Advanced Medical Directives' that jive with my POLST and my 'L W & T packet'. Prolly could have got it all done for free thru the V.A. Social Workers office. Although in many states a LW & T is legal even if it's hand-written on a sheet of paper, but useless unless someone can execute it other than a court. Seen too many Vets who checked-out and their estates fell apart to probate, medical bills, 'by-law' or NOK-feuds/litigation. I was never a 71G, just OJT-ed in it out of necessity and I admit to big gaps in med-admin procedures you are IMHO an expert in. Your input to this group could be worth it's weight in gold my friend.

Canis-Lupus