RetiredVetFlagged

Grayling12 I believe you, I went through years fighting them to clear my name. I am now cleared but it will take years more before all the bad info and records amended for the ones that can be BUT, the DBC records are one of the only NON amendable VHA record there is so it will always be there to harm me as a “history of”. Sorry I haven’t checked back on this until now. As for why this subject is hard to find info on is because it is actively suppressed in part because of real harm done to healthcare providers even though there is no evidence this does anything but delay the discoveries of errors or wrongdoing harming patients. I can state this as fact as due to disclosures by VHA in my own case that they actively monitor social media such as twitter and linkedin for veterans making specific complaints or allegations about their healthcare providers and will inform them that you are a “threat” to shut down the account. For several years this program was misused against me and now it is fairly well known in the VHA that I was wrongly and improperly flagged. The VHA Police and OIG know my accounts, the VHA police have agreed to contact me to resolve any concerns they have. With that all that said I can answer many questions on this topic due to attorney reviews, conversations with VHA OIG, several tort claims, conversations with two deputy directors at the office of general council, the national DBC program manager and actually going through each process, all of which failed and resulted in everyone from the DOJ to congress being officially told I was not flagged/never was even denying it on several FOIAs but an appeal forced them to disclose I was flagged for years and the instructions themselves stated I was a threat, instructed employees to ignore me and that they were to conceal it from inquiries due to me posting online. It wasn’t until they were embarrassed online with their own FOIA provided documents that I believe they tried to come at me criminally, but I never did anything they claimed so there was no evidence and after years of deadlock resulted in a rapid 180 change in care and access provided. When they tried to shut me down online, I provided the social media orgs the law that provides for VHA providers to take civil actions against VHA patients, that is their recourse for non threating/non disruptive patient disagreements, not using the disruptive behavior committee to silence the reports of harm or errors by patients. I also provided them with VHA disclosed documents detailing VHA admitted fraudulent actions against me and their own records of their efforts to disclose false information on me and manipulate them into taking actions against me on governments behalf. Let me know if you have any questions I might be able to answer. This is a VHAs DBC presentation at a VA & Yale BPD event but does a great job as an overview of the VA program and highlights problems and the doctor/patient views of the impact of the program on getting care.

The note you found is likely the event note for a DB report, it is good it doesn’t have details, VHAs in Ohio and Michigan were putting details on those notes which are clear privacy violations but because the policy and law contradict each other there is no proper due process and no oversight as they us the flag as a basis to lie to congressional inquiries done on veteran constituents behalf leaving us completely unprotected from misuse or errors. For the flag itself by law they are required to provide you a copy but by practice and deliberate noncompliance in the cases where patients still have agency they don’t essentially setting a situation they can use to entrap and accuse you of noncompliance. So to get the flag if there is/was one, they will lie to you about it, you need to FOIA it. Use the number on the report in your record and the date to request from the facility foia officer. Simply write “I request all, reports, notes, correspondence and behavioral patient record flags associated with 0000000 (DBR number & date)” sign it then scan and send to the FOIA officer. As an example of just how twisted and corrupt the program is check this just released OIG report. A nearly 80 year old was physical harmed and put in pain, when after he reported the ABUSE and reported the employees for harm they continued to be allowed to “treat” him which resulted in physically injuring him then when he tried to protect himself and the Employees were allowed to target the senior they were harming with the disruptive behavior program and VA police. https://www.va.gov/oig/publications/report-summary.asp?id=5236

Grayling12 I believe you, I went through years fighting them to clear my name. I am now cleared but it will take years more before all the bad info and records amended for the ones that can be BUT, the DBC records are one of the only NON amendable VHA record there is so it will always be there to harm me as a “history of”. Sorry I haven’t checked back on this until now. As for why this subject is hard to find info on is because it is actively suppressed in part because of real harm done to healthcare providers even though there is no evidence this does anything but delay the discoveries of errors or wrongdoing harming patients. I can state this as fact as due to disclosures by VHA in my own case that they actively monitor social media such as twitter and linkedin for veterans making specific complaints or allegations about their healthcare providers and will inform them that you are a “threat” to shut down the account. For several years this program was misused against me and now it is fairly well known in the VHA that I was wrongly and improperly flagged. The VHA Police and OIG know my accounts, the VHA police have agreed to contact me to resolve any concerns they have. With that all that said I can answer many questions on this topic due to attorney reviews, conversations with VHA OIG, several tort claims, conversations with two deputy directors at the office of general council, the national DBC program manager and actually going through each process, all of which failed and resulted in everyone from the DOJ to congress being officially told I was not flagged/never was even denying it on several FOIAs but an appeal forced them to disclose I was flagged for years and the instructions themselves stated I was a threat, instructed employees to ignore me and that they were to conceal it from inquiries due to me posting online. It wasn’t until they were embarrassed online with their own FOIA provided documents that I believe they tried to come at me criminally, but I never did anything they claimed so there was no evidence and after years of deadlock resulted in a rapid 180 change in care and access provided. When they tried to shut me down online, I provided the social media orgs the law that provides for VHA providers to take civil actions against VHA patients, that is their recourse for non threating/non disruptive patient disagreements, not using the disruptive behavior committee to silence the reports of harm or errors by patients. I also provided them with VHA disclosed documents detailing VHA admitted fraudulent actions against me and their own records of their efforts to disclose false information on me and manipulate them into taking actions against me on governments behalf. Let me know if you have any questions I might be able to answer. This is a DBC presentation at a BPD event but does a great job as an overview and highlights problems and the doctor/patient views of the impact of the program on getting care.

You are in VISN10 so what everyone else said may be valid where they are but not for you. VISN10 has no DBC policy and does not follow VHA policy or 38 CFR § 17.107 . Best estimate is Michigan has over 4000% more flagged patients per 1000 than any other VA systems. The policy as of last month currently in use is VA Ann Arbors and was identified by the national program manager over a year ago as being non compliant. The fact you are on here asking proves it, you should have a letter and instructions (you only have 30 days) in which to challenge it, they are reviewed in 2 year cycles or as directed. The DBC is unlike any other program in VHA, it is non amendable and has no designated oversight mechanism including from the national program manager or the OIG. How were you informed of your flag? What does your flag instruct VHA staff to do? You need these answers and your PATS-R so you need to FOIA, a chunk of all the FOIA officers in VISN10 have been recently replaced so it should save you money. Go to the system site, foia and call the foia officer. They will give you the system foia email and you can scan and sign the request (written on any paper) for the dates you want. Do a second one for the flag, take the report number for the DBC you saw in the system and request all documents and the risk assessment for it, with the report number it shouldn’t cost much is anything for this one. If you are past 30 days there are a few options but that will require more steps. Understand that the VHA DBC program in Michigan is WAY the hell on the other side of the compliance/civil rights violating line and it is being unraveled but it is a slow process but because it is known taking those first steps will likely get it resolved before having to go much further. The VA OIG has many reports on VISN10 flag noncompliance and is working it. Go to their page and do a report or call the hotline once you get those documents. The threat analysis will have disruption “cost” or impact, if it is 0 as ALL I have seen out of VISN10 than the OIG will send a letter and you flag will disappear, not actually using the actual process but by some other means I haven’t figured out yet. Understand that veterans in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana have been prosecuted using this programs “findings” and the clinical “history” of violence it establishes. That isn’t to say in those cases the Vets shouldn’t have been prosecuted but the bulk of the evidence was from the DBC records not VHA police and vets were testified against by the social workers, not police, the same ones running the secret noncompliant program with no oversight.