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Below are
useful tips for dealing with the VA provided by individuals and
groups. If you have special advice for fellow veterans please
send the information my way and I will post it here.
The
following tips are from Navy veteran Ron Whaley of Summerville,
Georgia. Thanks for the great tips, Ron!
If you are on active duty make sure you bring a copy of
your Medical Records with you. Always have them in a safe
place
Get an organization like DAV to help you with your
battle and foremost NEVER give up the fight.
Keep a log of everything and every time you contact the
VA about anything and when you go to any doctor they send you to.
Be honest (you don't have to remember truths and you
forget lies) with your complaint. Straight forward and to the point
always.
Make sure every form is filled out to the best of your
ability. If you need help find someone to help with it.
(I have most of them saved from the VA home page and know how to
fill them out).
That's about all I know to say. If you need help,
ask for it. If no one will help you in the system find another
veteran that has been through it and ASK FOR HELP.
Be safe and as always Back to Back......The
Brother/sister hood lives on in each of us. Lets make it a
better place for the next group of Veterans coming along.
And again NEVER GIVE UP THE BATTLE.
Thank to Luci, a regular VA
Watchdog dot Org reader, for the following.....
---------------
These are some important phone numbers and people you can
contact within the Department of Veterans' Affairs if you're
having any problems.
The DVA Inspector General's Hotline
If the VA keeps sending you the wrong medical supplies, if you
were mistreated or abused in any way, if you need to report
anyone within the VA system, if you blew the whistle on anyone
and you're having any kind of problems now, fraud, waste or
mismanagement--these are the people to call. They do follow up
on all complaints either by phone or mail.
1 800 488 8244 8:30 AM - 4:00PM EST
fax 202 565 7936
If you're having problems getting certain supplies ask for
pharmacy procurement in your VA facility.
You can also ask for the buyer for pharmacy and ask if they can
order it for you.
If you know the name of the company you can ask for purchasing
for pharmacy and ask if they have an account with that
particular company or you can call the company directly and ask
if they supply VA hospitals. If any company supplies the VA
hospitals the VA can open an account and order the supplies for
you.
The Patient Advocate in the VA hospitals can be very helpful,
too. Just go through the main switchboard and ask for them.
If you need medical records go through the Freedom of
Information Office but ask for the head of the department and
you'd be surprised what they can find.
If you go thru medical records there's a medical records
supervisor also.
If you have any problems with the Agent Orange registry (they
call it Environmental Agents now) or if your VA facility doesn't
have an Agent Orange Coordinator contact:
Environmental Agents Service
VA Central Office
810 Vermont Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20420
1 800 749 4117
If your VA facility tells you your records are no longer there
or that they can't be found, they could be in storage. Some VA
facilities have their own storage or it can be in a storage
facility in Texas.
Health Information Management deals with the National Database
and can do a search to see where your records are. You need to
be as specific as possible regarding the date of treatment but
they can be found if all you remember is the year.
202 273 9220 Gail Graham is who to ask for.
If you still need major help you can contact the Deputy
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
He's a Nam Vet
He was enlisted
He was wounded while in country and had all his treatment and
rehab through the VA so he knows what goes on there
He also worked for Paralyzed Veterans of America from 1981 -
1993
You'll get his patient advocate when you call, but give whatever
information they ask for and it will definitely be looked into.
They can do a thorough investigation into whatever your problem
is.
202 273 5400
If you have medical documentation
that you are unable to travel long distances and you need a C &
P exam you can be transported back and forth by ambulance by the
VA.
If that doesn't work, you can go through the Chief of Staff of
your VA facility and the Chief of Staff can give permission for
the exam to be done at a place that's closer to home (even by a
civilian doctor).
If you use civilian doctors and submit the records to your
primary care doctor, especially through an outpatient clinic,
your records are not automatically put into the VA computer
system. You need to make copies and either mail or fax them to
the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act office at your VA facility)
and request that you want them scanned into your VA file. If you
don't do this and have a claim, the records won't be there and
your claim can be denied because important records are missing.
Ten ways
to avoid red tape in VA claims processing: here is the advice
you have been waiting for—how to efficiently navigate a VA facility
and come out with your claim intact.
VFW Magazine, January 2003
by Raymond P. Toczek
Anyone who has used a VA medical facility has
encountered unnecessary delays in service. Yet most such
delays are avoidable. To avert long waits in processing,
simply follow these "top 10" steps.
1...Read the instructions. Although the
print is small and frequently confusing, the 10-15 minutes you take
to read and understand instructions may save you months of hassles
and misunderstandings.
For instance, VA form 21-526 is used to file tot
compensation and/or pension benefits. If you only want
compensation and you read the instructions carefully, you will soon
see that about one-half of the form need not be completed.
2...Answer each question. Each question on
claim forms has a certain purpose, however trivial it may seem.
Leaving questions blank may cause delays, reduced
benefits or denials. It's better to reply "None" or "Unknown"
than to leave any space blank.
Feel free to attach a blank sheet of paper to your
claim to clarify unusual situations. Example: The
question asks for your children's Social Security numbers, and you
leave it blank. This will raise a red flag immediately.
However, if you attach an additional sheet to explain
that you married a foreign national with two children and are now in
the process of applying for their Social Security numbers, this will
clarify the situation.
3...Use your claim or reference number. Your
parents took time in choosing your name and it's important to you,
but in this age of computers it's the number that counts.
Omitting the claim number on letters and forms begs for
delays. Sometimes a claim will never even get to the right
department without the number. It never changes and can be
easily located by calling VA.
Don't make the classic mistake of writing your
reference number only on the outside of your envelope. Your
correspondence is opened in the mail room, the contents removed and
sent on its way, and your envelope is usually discarded.
4...Let the government agency know if
you move. If you move and don't inform VA, you may not get
your checks or important letters. Be sure to advise your local
post office to forward your mail. It will do so for up to a
year.
VA is divided into several large departments, and their
computers are not yet all talking to each other (they are working on
that). If you call your local VA hospital to change the
address for your clinic appointments, never assume that information
will get to the regional office to update your monthly compensation
check. This suggestion is especially true if you have direct
deposit of your check.
5...Save your correspondence.
Development, award and information letters are sent to inform you of
your claim and should be kept for future reference. If a
problem arises, these letters (chronologically arranged) can help to
piece together what happened with your claim.
VA letters are very informative and written in
easy-to-understand language. Many veterans, however, only pay
attention to the first page, which usually shows the dollar amount
they will receive, and ignore the other pages.
For example, a veteran rated 30% or more disabled who
later marries and has children is eligible for an additional
dependents' allotment. But if he doesn't read his original
award letter, he won't know this additional benefit is available.
6...Wait a reasonable time. Find out how
long a claim of your type takes and then contact the agency if you
haven't heard. If VA sends a claimant a letter and no response
is received, the claim is closed. Periodic status checks on
your claim can avoid this problem.
7...Pay attention to time limits. If your
VA letter states you have 30 or 60 days to file or respond--believe
it! Many claims get denied simply because evidence or
information was not received on time. If you wait too long, an
entirely new claim may have to be filed.
If you are a procrastinator and drop your response in
the mailbox on the last day it's due, there could be delays.
If that day is a Friday, the mail might just not be picked up until
Monday and not actually postmarked until Tuesday. Therefore,
you exceeded the time limit. This rule can also be applied in
reverse to save you time.
A VA letter may be giving you what is known as "due
process," which allows you 60 days for a response. You can
shorten that by responding as soon as you get the letter. If
the information is correct and you agree, write back and tell VA to
take immediate action on the claim based on the evidence it has on
file.
8...Keep notes. Get the name of the person who
assisted you or answered a question, the date of contact and the
advice given. You may not always be able to deal with the same
person each time. But knowing who you dealt with before can
sometimes make the job easier for the next employee who tries to
help you.
This suggestion is especially important in the area of
complaints. A valid complaint about "someone" telling you to
do something a certain way will carry less weight than if you say,
"On Oct. 3, Mr. Toczek advised me to submit form XYZ to your
processing center in Austin, Texas." This also allows VA
supervisors to get back to their employees and refresh them on
procedural errors.
9...Know and use your appeal rights. VA
decisions can be appealed. If you feel your claim was improperly
denied, find out how to have it reviewed.
No government agency is 100% perfect, and mistakes can
be made. If your case is one that may have been mistakenly
decided and you don't appeal it, the only one who loses is you.
All VA decisions come with your appeal rights
attached--follow them. Also, remember that VFW will represent
you free of charge as your power of attorney.
10...Share your knowledge. Once your claim
has been satisfactorily processed, consider yourself a "mini-expert"
in that area. If you know of someone else who might be in need
of the same benefit, assist him or her.
It is human nature for someone to more readily accept
assistance from a friend or relative than an informal government
employee. If you are a "people" person, you might even want to
consider becoming your local VFW Post service officer to help fellow
vets.
There you have it. Ten concise and concrete
suggestions for helping your claim go through the system faster.
There is no guarantee these steps will alleviate all
problems and delays, but they are bound to improve most situations.
No one likes run-arounds and red tape. These ideas will help
you smoothly navigate the byways of what sometimes seems a daunting
process.
RAYMOND P. TOCZEK is a benefits
counselor at the VA Westside Hospital in Chicago, a veteran of 20
years of Post service work and a member of Post 2004.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
