ptsd Approved Fee Basis For Dental

[#1Cavtrooper]

I called the Dental Clinic in Houston on Friday and spoke with a very nice lady and requested Fee Basis for my Dental. It was later in the day about 4 p.m. when I called. To my amazement this same lady called not only called my home telephone number, but also my cell today (before noon) to let me know that I was approved for this. She even apologized for not calling me back on Friday! I am very pleased with the outcome for it saves me driving 116 miles to spend 1 hour in the dentist's chair and then make the return trip home. The long trip aggravates three of my service connected disabilities... Back, Cervical Spine and especially my PTSD (with the traffic and people causing me a lot of anxiety). To sum it up, Houston (the Varo and the Hospital) has treated me really good. If your service connected disabilities are aggravated by a long commute such as this I would suggest requesting Fee Basis. Now I will be able to use my local Dentist and not have to commute a little over 5 hours round trip.

Edited June 3, 2013 by #1Cavtrooper

[john999]

How about vision care via Fee Base? My VA found only one eye doctor in my county that would accept VA Fee Base. What is wrong with this picture......Low reimbursement rate/paperwork? VA refuses to do cataract surgery for me and gives me glasses that don't fit and are an inch thick. I have to use Medicare. This is unacceptable.

[justrluk]

Sorry for the delay. Here are the 478 area code dentists provided by the CVVAMC, Dublin, GA.

478_area_code_dentists.pdf

[georgiapapa]

justrluk,

Thanks for the info. I am pleasantly surprised at the number of dentists in my area. My private dentist is not on the list but another dentist in practice with him is on the list.

So far I have never used VA dental so I am not familiar with how to go about getting approval to use the dentists on the list. Should I just call the dental clinic at the VAMC and request approval?

Thanks again for the list.

Georgiapapa.

[john999]

Just watch out that the dentist from the list does not want to do unnecessary work on your mouth. They look in your mouth and see a small gold mine if VA is going to pay. My new VA approved dentist proposed a crown, deep cleaning, and some other work. I agree with most of it. The VA never suggested any of that work. The actual VA dentist did a filing on a root canal instead of a crown. I still have private dentist of my own who did three implants for me. That is $15,000. VA would not do it.

[georgiapapa]

John,

Since a dentist on the VA fee base list is in practice with my personal dentist, I am going to talk to the insurance lady at my dentist's office and find out why one dentist is on VA list and one is not. I currently have the GEHA high option federal dental plan which is good but as you know it will only pay 50% on crowns and bridges. I would like to use the VA fee base to cover my 50% copay I have to pay in the future. Hopefully, I will not need any more crowns and bridges. I have had 3 bridges about ten years ago and paid about $4000.00 out of pocket. I want to avoid future dental copays if possible.

Does the VA have to give advance approval for any dental work performed by the fee base dentists?

[justrluk]

I had to go in but it was my first visit. I'll see what happens, but as I understand once the agreement/treatment plan is submitted, the VA takes it from there. The dentist can also recommend cleanings every six months (v. yearly).