Vync

When I was at the VAMC yesterday, I picked up a "Veterans Travel Benefits" brochure from the Travel office window. It does not say VAMC. It says "VA health care services" and refers to requirements. Later, it points the reader to the URL you listed below. It also has a number for reporting fraud. In this case, it seems like the VA is causing fraud by not paying what you think you are owed. You might get a better clarification from those guys: VAOIG hotline 1-800-488-8244 8:30am-4:00pm EST M-F

I was there in person and showed the list to the attendant. They rescheduled it for a day next week.

I remember being told that I would only be given travel to the closest VAMC, unless I needed treatment at another facility. Regarding choosing your provider: http://www.patientadvocate.va.gov/rights.asp III. Participation in Treatment Decisions You will be given, in writing, the name and title of the provider in charge of your care. As our partner in healthcare, you have the right to be involved in choosing your provider. You also have the right to know the names and titles of those who provide you care. This includes students, residents and trainees. Providers will properly introduce themselves when they take part in your care.

More VA incompetence: I had a dental C&P exam scheduled for first thing this morning. I found out by getting a printed copy of my upcoming appointments this afternoon. No notification by phone or mail. This is the second time I had a C&P exam scheduled and was not notified.

My C-file is at my VAMC, in the C&P clinic. They said it was four volumes thick. I placed my initial request for a copy of it at the beginning of November 2009 and heard nothing at all from the VA, despite numerous calls. The only thing I learned was they will not send it for copying until all claims are completed. I asked the C&P clinic folks if they could route it through the VAMC's Release of Information office. The supervisor was not in the office at both the C&P clinic and the ROI office, but they asked me to follow up tomorrow. Anyone have any luck getting a copy of their C-file this way?

bump

That's cool, as long as we get invited to the parties. I think I also read somewhere that the deductible is waived if you are going for a c&p exam. Anyone know if this true?

The VA typically takes out a small deductible (I think it is $6.00 or so) when they issue travel pay. Does anyone know if we still have to pay the deductible once we go over 50% SC?

Hey Hedgey, When they rated my 10% SC eye condition, the rating actually said 'bilateral'. Check your award letter to see if bilateral is included on your SC conditions. If you have condition X on your left leg and then condition Y on your right leg, I don't think they rate that bilateral, because they are different conditions. Also, some conditions like TMJ are rated singularly, regardless of being SC for either or both TMJ sides, so they don't qualify for a bilateral rating. My understanding of the way they calculate bilateral ratings is to first rate all bilateral's separately (just like normal SC) and then add 10% to that (or multiply by 1.1). Afterwards, the bilateral value plus non-bilateral totals are calculated to produce your combined rating. Someone else might want to confirm this. I don't want to be passing along incorrect information. More info is in CFR 38, 4.25

Normally, if go to the Release of Information Office, they can print off the C&P results once they are entered. In some cases, I call ahead to my VAMC ROI office and they print and insert my records into an envelope, so I just drop in, show ID, and pick them up in person. Please be aware that the results of the PTSD exam, or any other MH-related records, will most likely need to be approved by someone in the MH clinic, maybe the doctor who performed the exam. Expect that to take anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks. I have found the only way around this is to ask the MH doc to explicitly state this in the records.

Neither. It was just a request for increase to an existing disability. My asthma got worse and they changed me over to stronger/different meds, which was the justification for the 30%. I received systemic steroids 3x in less than six months, which was the justification for 60%. The nebulizer really helped, but they don't give you a rating for that.

This is very interesting. Is it just me or is the VA ripping us off? My situation is similar. My rating increase was effective September 3rd, 2009, but the effective date of payments began on October 1st, 2009. That's 28 days of not getting paid, equivalent to an entire month of Februaries. This just does not seem right. Is there any recourse? If you owe them money, they count every penny and even charge you interest daily until you pay up...

lol, I agree! tyvm!

I agree, but then again, this is the same guy who said I would never receive a combined rating higher than 40%. I figured that since Bill asked the question regarding GAF and %, I would follow up and ask for the general consensus about a rating for that GAF range.

With GAF's consistently in the mid-50's through mid-60%, and currently working, what tends to be the average % granted? This doesn't sound right, but I talked with my county VA representative and the guy said the % granted is solely tied to your GAF. He also said that if your GAF is above 50, you get nothing, but a GAF below 50 means you will receive a % granted. Based on what I have read here, his opinion did not pass the smell test.

Absolutely! I told Carlie that I almost had an asthma attack when I opened the envelope. Thank goodness for the rescue inhaler provided by the VA. :o

I checked the mailbox and found another VA envelope. I expected to see the usual "please submit evidence regarding the following blah, blah..." letter, but was surprised to see an award letter. It wasn't in a white envelope either. This letter was regarding only the asthma portion of my claim, as everything else was deferred pending receipt of additional evidence. Original asthma rating: 10% Increase as of 10/2009: 30% Increase as of 01/2010: 60% Original combined rating: 40% Current combined rating: 70% The VA used evidence from my treatment records any my supporting personal letter for this decision. No additional C&P examination was given. I was curious about this because I read in a few places that C&P's may not be required if evidence of record was sufficient. I was surprised about the quick turnaround. I submitted my claim increase request in December 2009. I submitted supporting evidence and my personal letter about two weeks ago. I sincerely would like to thank everyone here at Hadit for their assistance. I especially want to thank (in alphabetical order) *Bergie*, Berta, Carlie, Cowgirl, Hoppy, jbasser, John999, Pete53, Sawgunner, and Teac.

They didnt make me watch any video. I just went in and signed some paper. The only big difference I notice is that instead of seeing only the prescription numbers, I can actually see the numbers and the names/dosages of the prescriptions too. I never expected that I would be able to see all of my prescriptions back to 1995, when the VA started issuing me meds. That was neat.

You might need to follow up with your physician. In some cases, they may switch you from a CPAP machine to a BIPAP machine. Here's a link that might be helpful: http://ezinearticles.com/?What-is-the-Diff...?&id=965994 Here are the ratings for sleep apnea: http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/regs/38CFR/BOOKC/PART4/S4_97.DOC 6847 Sleep Apnea Syndromes (Obstructive, Central, Mixed): Chronic respiratory failure with carbon dioxide retention or corpulmonale, or; requires tracheostomy 100 Requires use of breathing assistance device such as continuous airway pressure (CPAP) machine 50 Persistent day-time hypersomnolence 30 Asymptomatic but with documented sleep disorder breathing 0 Check this out regarding surgeries to correct sleep apnea problems. It's pretty medically technical, but goes into some serious depth. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2625321wiw Hope this helps!

They put me in a makeshift hotel room. They connected a bunch of electrodes to my head, neck, arms, legs, etc... The worst one was this little thing they clipped onto my nostrils. Because of my bad allergies, my nose itches all the time and the sensor drove me up the wall. People are not present in the room. They have a camera mounted on the ceiling and there are microphones so they can hear you. I had to go to the bathroom at night and just asked and the attendant helped me out of the bed and disconnected the wiring harness so I could go. They forced me to turn off the tv at about 10pm and awakened me at 5am. They had some coffee, fruit, and muffins available, but said I could go to the cafeteria if I wanted. I told them that I had to go to work, so they let the doc see me first. The doc gave me a copy of a line graph chart, which showed my oxygen level, sleep pattern, etc. She showed me where my oxygen level dipped and went over the entire chart. If I would have had more apneas, then the attendants would have came in and hooked me up to a cpap machine. They also monitor your movement too. For example, if I was running the 50 yard dash in bed, they would have diagnosed me with restless leg syndrome. They said that some people snore a lot because of the uvula (not sure about spelling), but it is that dangling thing in the back of your throat. Sometimes they can surgically remove it or reinforce the soft pallette in the back of your mouth to increase your airway. Hope this helps.

I have GERD too, which is being treated by the VA and also showed up on the results of my general C&P exam. The VA also did an upper GI to confirm it. What makes it worse if the NSAIDs that the VA gives me for my TMJ, so the VA doubled my daily omeprazole dose. As a result, I chose to be proactive and request SC for the condition. I hope you do the same. Be sure to check with a specialist on your condition to see if they can provide a direct or secondary nexus.

Wings is right. You have the right to choose the gender of the counselor. In some cases, they may give you someone of the opposite gender temporarily. For example, if you choose to talk to a female doc, but she is out on maternity leave, then you might have to speak with a male doc if no other females are available.

You can request a copy of your C-file a few ways. The way I did it was to submit a form via mail. Some folks can request them via iris, but I have not had the best of luck with iris. Also, if you have an existing claim, the VA might choose not to send your c-file until all claims are resolved. That's what they did to me, but did not tell me this until three months after I requested a copy. You can also request a copy from your VSO.

With what you describe, it sounds like you have a good chance of having OSA. One thing to remember is to bring any medication they might have sent you, especially a sleep aid. When I had mine, they forgot to send me a sleep aid and I did not bring one. I ended up with about two or three hours of intermittent sleep. I only had a few apneas, but not enough to diagnose me. If I would have had my sleep aid, I'm pretty sure that the results would have been conclusive. Do you sleep with someone else? Quite often they tend to be the ones to tell you that you stop breathing and/or gasp during your sleep.

Testvet is correct. It might be more beneficial to get a second opinion and possibly try out pain block injections first. I had three pain blocks. The first one did not work. The second was beneficial. The third made a big difference. Also, the VA gave me a TENS unit which realllly helped a lot. It's worth asking them for one.