ptsd 7 Weeks To Get In To See My Va Pcp.

[hedgey]

I called my VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic on Monday to make an appointment to see my PCP. I expected that it would be a while, maybe a week, since it's a very busy clinic and sorely understaffed. I guess I should say that I actually called the call center that handles scheduling.

The pleasant lady on the phone (after holding for 6 minutes of truly annoying and jarring music) told me the earliest she could get me in is September 27th. Seven weeks. I asked to be put on a cancellation list, but she told me not to get my hopes up.

I want to see the PCP because I'm having some problems that need looking at, and I have to go through her to see about trying to get Fee for Service for my podiatrist (they have no podiatrist on staff at the clinic, and it's for SC problems). I'm not about to die, I don't think, and the VAMC emergency room is nearly 100 miles away. Plus, frankly, I'm really afraid if I went there I'd have a PTSD panic attack and wind up being admitted to the psych ward. I hate going to the VAMC, it's always very stressful.

So I guess I'm going to wait the 7 weeks to see the VA PCP. Meanwhile, I'm going to see a private doctor, just in case my troubles are more serious than I thought. Trouble is that our health insurance pays next to nothing for lab work, and dammit, the VA is supposed to be providing care.

This clinic is fairly new, just re-opened this year after being in another nearby small town. The building is very nice, but the new management can't seem to keep staff (my podiatrist was there and quit over a conflict about proper sterilization techniques - their standards were lower than hers and she refused to adapt). The old clinic was managed by a local hospital, and this new one is managed by a medical corporation based in Georgia or someplace. At the old clinic I used to be able to get in to see the PCP the same week I called, sometimes the same day...

What really makes this annoying, besides the possibility of a condition deteriorating to where it really is an emergency, is that this new clinic has been bragging all over the place that the vets love them and how wonderful the new place is doing serving vets in the area. They've been in the paper several times with the lovely photo op of happy vets in the waiting room, and a smiling staffer handing the wheelchair bound vet a paper. They've never admitted to the staff shortage, or the repeated scheduling botch-ups, or the canceled appointments that they failed to notify people of when a staff member quits.

Anyhow, who do I complain to about the staff shortage and the 7 week wait for primary care? Will an IRIS do anything? Am I unreasonable in thinking 7 weeks is a long time?

Edited August 11, 2010 by hedgey

[stillhere]

I live in a very busy area lot of disabled vets here. I can call and usually get in for shrink in 2-3 weeks and pcp 3-4 weeks. Of course I am 100%+housebound not sure if they treat me different or not.

I use them for meds and some of my SC conditions but not all. My wife went back to work and has health care for me too. Plus she gets ChampUS I hope we are pretty set in case a real emergency comes up. My VAMC is about 25 miles away but like Pete999 I don't tend to care for them much.

Good luck to you!

[Testvet]

100% vets are supposed to get an appt for any type of doctor within 30 days but supposed to and it actually happening are 2 different things but I do have to say that if my PC doc says I need to be checked out by a specialty clinic I normally get the appt within a month I do know that lower rated vets at Augusta VA complain about having to wait 3-4 months for non emergency care they do have a Life Support Clinic but unless you are having a heart attack you will wait for hours to get seen by the ER doc maybe if you are bleeding they "might" see you quicker if you have any health care besides the VA I advise you to use it you will live longer and with less pain

[Notorious Kelly]

7 weeks is not a reasonable wait for anything in the USA; why do we accept it?

I was happy with regular care at Portland VAMC (except for pain meds. We worked thru the catalog for over 2 years with each subsequent medication needing time to work/ not work/change to another, so now I just live with the pain).

Anyhow, I went in to ER for uncomfortable side pain and writhed around on the chairs for 2 hours. When discomfort subsided enough, I just left disgusted.

Turns out it was gallstones/kidney stones.

Their ER is an informal day clinic and the staff takes their time unless you're in very serious condition.

This is NOT world-class health care.

Try complaining to the same media who have been doing those feel-good pieces.

Edited August 12, 2010 by Notorious Kelly

[Wings]

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My VA "Clinic" has been jerking me around too: 7-8 weeks out and then cancelling my appt. via postal mail and not telling me why ... I have been told to go to the VAMC ER, and have done so, only to be told by the VAMC ER staff that my case was not an emergency and poo-pooing the way it was handled by the VA Clinic. I do not think the Clinic is capable of treating most of my medical issues. This year I am going to take advantage of the County Veterans Service Office van schedule to the VAMC, and let someone else do the driving. It's just that I won't be able to collect travel pay if the County VSO drives me. ~Wings

[Cruinthe]

Go to the VA emergency room. The structure of VA hospitals is a bit different than a normal hospital. ER VA docs have full access to your medical file and they can function just fine for walk-ins. I have been in the same situation as you, needing an ENT consult quickly, so my PCP doctor told me he could get me in within a few weeks, so I simply walked into the ER and told the docs there the same story, and I had my ENT consult 3 days later.

From what I understand, only the ER doctors can request priority consults, so thats the path I would take.