Private Heart Doctor Vs Va Heart Doctor

[olddude]

I I am 70% all service related.At the VA Clinic they told me to keep my outside heart doctor and not have a VA heart doctor.That way if something heart related happens,I can be taken care of localy.My heart doctor sends me for a stress test and and other heart related tests each year. For the past 5 years I have been paying for these tests. out of my pocket Medicare paid 80%,I had to pay the other 20% every year out of my own pocket.My heart problems are all service related. Would not it be better for me to ask for a VA heart doctor. IF I had a VA heart doctor,would not the tests be paid for by the VA and save me a lot of money? Or could I be re-inbursed each year for the tests my outside heart doctor has done. I can not see why I should pay for service related tests.

[Testvet]

if you have medicare they are just getting you to use that program and you are paying out of pocket on the other hand the VA Cardiologists are not going to do all the tests that private doctors order because they cost money the VA seems to be willing to let us go until we have a problem and hope we live thru the procedure about 3 years ago the cardiac clinic at the VA told me to just let my primary care doc refill my heart meds and stopped seeing me every 6 months as they had been doing since 2002 in April I had a heart attack and my wife called an ambulance and they took me to the nearest hospital I suffered a severe heart attack and spent a few days in a drug induced coma and then they sent me to MUSC in Charleston to be seen by the transplant team to see if they could impant the device that Cheney has it's called a VLAD or a heart transplant as my ejection fraction is now 10% after a week of tests they told my wife to take me home and keep taking my meds but I was not a candidate for either a VLAD nor any other heart surgery that I need both a heart and lung transplant and they don't think my body would survive the operation, but I was free to get a second opinion that was on Apr 28 in June I had another heart attack on the 10th and they kept me in ICU until 25 and then in a regular room until the 28th in October the VA Fee Basis office paid the bills for the emergency care

if I had gone to the VA in April I would probably have died in the ER I am now in the CHF Clinic they have and they see me every 2 weeks at the VA and once a month I pay a visit to the civilian doc that saved my life just to have him check me out and make sure what the VA is doing is the right thing to keep me alive it costs me a 100 a month well worth the money if you ask me and if I keep having emergency needs I will keep going to the local ER that is closest to my house

[Pete53]

Lets face it the VA is not the best place for a heart patient. I have been able to get a few stress tests but even though I have a stent I have never been able to see a VA CaRDIOLOGIST. They just don't seem to be available.

[NJBB62]

VA Cardiologist are very hard to find, I have one here in Florida but can only see him once a year as he is the only one in my clinic, (only comes in on Tuesday and Thursday), but that saying,

your primary care doc at VA can order stress test, ekg, and echo-cardiogram, no need to get it done and pay for it outside VA if you are Service Connected. I would suggest keeping your outside

Heart Doctor as I see him once a year, but do not need to do all the test and pay out of pocket. Just my opinion!

NJ

[Capt.]

Hello ,,,, I had a myocardial infarction last year and the VA did the work on me. The VA then sent me to a fee basis cardiologist and I am still seeing that doctor outside the VA. I believe that the way the VA is set up for heart is that you just about have to go thru a heart attack before they get you to a cardio doctor. Yes some of the VAMC have a heart dept and can handle open heart , but hopefully you won't be on that road. I am fortunate I lived thru my event and now have a very good cardiologist that the VA is fee basis. Perhaps check with benefits counselor or your VA PCP doctor to see what is available to you.As Pete pointed out the VA is short on the heart dept personnel and they are not at all VAMC or clinics thruout our country. As always...NEVER GIVE UP. God Bless, C.C.

[Philip Rogers]

This is just my personal opinion and you are free to do as you please, but I'd continue to pay privately. On the other hand you can use the VA, thereby saving some out-of-pocket expense, that your family can put towards a really nice casket or a really great party after your passing. The choice is all yours. Don't take it personally but the VA(not the personnel) doesn't care about any of us, except to keep them employed. Again, jmo

pr

[Berta]

I have a personal opinion on VA's cardio care but I think every one here knows what it is by now.

However, another ramification of VA cardio care is this-

The IHD Nehmer awards to survivors of AO vets , as to any accrued benefits, are based on medical records that evidence the extent of IHD. Such as ECHO and METS results.

Some ECHOs ( which can fully reveal the current extent of IHD) are given only once by the VA, if at all.

If a survivor now falls under Nehmer for a spouse whose AO induced IHD caused or contributed to their death, and the spouse is eligible fr an Accrued IHD award-

the VA could use the findings of an ECHO that could be many years old, to determine a rating f the IHD which might not reflect subsequent manifestations of heart disease that has gotten worse-bad enough to cause or contribute to the veteran's death.

In some cases the ECHO is done because it might be safer for the vet then the METS test yet that would leave only an ECHO result to properly determine a percentage for IHD rating purposes.

I believe any vet with IHD and private cardio care can expect a better rating then a VA vet with AO IHD and VA cardio care in some cases.

And certainly their survivors would as well.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Berta