V.A. Alerts Base-Thread

[Canis-Lupus]

About 50 V.A. medical centers reported problems with electronic health records. As the Department of Veterans Affairs transitions to a total cyber health care based treatment modality the records your provider pulls up on their computer better be yours. It does not hinder treatment to question: "What is my last name and last 4 of my SSN?" or you notice unexpected changes in Rx's prescribed, or your provider is treating you for a condition you do not have. Veterans Today lists the problems in this link:
Veterans given wrong drug doses due to glitch : Veterans Today - News for U.S. Military Veterans Jobs, VA Benefits, Home Loans, Hospitals & Administration
Too long to cut/paste full article into this post.
Yes! I know the V.A. tries hard to do it's job well, but this points to a computer glitch not a provider one, although the provider does have the ultimate responsibility to know the patient, the medical/psychological conditions, the drugs they dispense, and the history of the whole multi-system problems the patient has.
If you are a diabetic and hypertensive a doctor should be treating it with drugs, if you are also seeing Behavioral Health Service for a condition like P.T.S.D. and being given a benzodiazepine (Valium, Xanax, etc.) then the Rx's better jive in your system or a medical Rx error may terminate your illness and you too! Classic example of one I know about that happened to a Vet I knew [ex-Navy mechanic], presented with a infected cut, was allergic to penicillin, and finds out the doctor missed that and gave him Robicillin VK® in the 5 min window he spent with the busy V.A. urgent care provider, so he takes it without knowing (doesn't sound like penicillin right?) and ended up with an airway closure incident that put him into a civilian ICU on an intubator for a week. V.A.'s answer was a pharmacy error who blamed the doctor who blamed the patient for not yelling at the doctor that he was allergic to all PCN drugs! Doctor claimed the allergy was not listed on the screen.... so blame the frigging computer! He was/is service-connected at 40% and ended up with a 5-figure bill from a local hospital that is still being disputed by the V.A. for payment to the civilian hospital. Maybe he should sue the V.A. computer!
Look up drugs for brand name or generic Rx names here:
MedlinePlus: Drugs & Supplements
That's all I have on this update that may help even if it only helps 1 USA Carry patron/Veteran heeds it.
I will post any and all future V.A. medical or procedural/benefits alerts into this thread.

Canis-Lupus

[ricbak]

Thank you Sir.

[Canis-Lupus]

The Department of Veterans Affairs, stung by criticism that its slow action has forced some severely disabled veterans to spend themselves into poverty, has moved to implement a two-year-old law requiring it to reimburse such veterans for the cost of care at state-run nursing homes.
The VA sent letters to the nation's 137 state veterans nursing homes - including ones in Stony Brook and St. Albans, Queens - saying they expect to begin processing reimbursements within 90 days.
A bill signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006 required the VA to reimburse the full cost for veterans with a 70 percent or greater service-connected disability who require nursing home care.
But although Congress specified that the law be implemented by March 21, 2007, the VA still has not begun issuing payments. A VA spokesman said no one was available to explain the two-year delay.
The holdup has forced some elderly veterans to spend away their life savings before they could qualify for Medicaid payments to cover the $250-per-day cost of care at the Long Island State Veterans Home at Stony Brook University.
At least eight patients at Long Island State Veterans Home who would have been covered under the law have been forced to pay for some or all of their care out of pocket, according to Sen. Charles Schumer, who visited the nursing home last month. Two of the veterans have died while waiting for the law to come into effect.
About 80 percent of patients at the nursing home are on Medicaid, a hospital official said.
Some 4,800 Long Island veterans are more than 70 percent disabled and become increasingly likely to require nursing home care as they get into their 80s and 90s.
Long Island State Veterans Home director Fred Sganga said he was encouraged, but remains cautious. "We've been promised this won't take more than 90 days," he said. "But it's not over until it's over."
Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.
BY MARTIN C. EVANS: 10:15 PM EST, March 3, 2009
VA to reimburse vets who paid for nursing home care -- Newsday.com

C-L

[DocBoCook]

When are we honorably discharged vets going to finally get treated like the brave men who, upon take the oath of service, signed a blank check payable with our lives, to the United States of America, and recieve the friggan benefits we are promised and lawfully required.

[sambo42xa]

I agree with you 100%.