slangpdx Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 At suggestion of response to a post on this forum I sent a request for a test through the va.gov portal on 5-7, got this reply today 5-18. Do I need to "reopen"? Or is it being acted on? Is the "Facility Advocate" at my VAMC? What is the "Service Line Advocate"? va.gov routes to specific hospitals. I am asking for a urine test to substitute for a scope procedure, which I know the VA can obtain through two labs it has a relationship with, I verified it. The local VAMC head sent out email last week saying they are having covid outbreaks among staff in various departments. Appreciate the honesty, but have to assume there is a substantial problem or they wouldn't have sent it. Portland Oregon. I left a phone message for the primary care medical director 5-14, no response. Also, there are now news reports of VA workers wanting hazard pay for going in, and a VA hospital in Minnesota has been reporting contradictory information on availability of PPE, sanitizer, etc. va.gov response below: ---------------------------------- Recently you requested assistance from VA. Below is our response. If you wish to reopen this issue, you may do so within the next 14 days. Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you. Response By Email (Department of Veterans Affairs) (05/18/2020 12:38 PM) Mr. ZZZZ, Sorry to hear you are having an issues and I have opened a case and sent it to Service Line Advocate to be addressed. Your case number is P-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. Zozo (fictitious name I typed) Facility Advocate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator broncovet Posted May 19, 2020 Moderator Share Posted May 19, 2020 (edited) The VAMC has "taken a page out of VSO's playbook". Whenever the Veteran calls and asks for information, the VSO, once they have secured the valuable POA, is required to return no more than 1 percent of the calls made by the Veteran. 99 percent of Veterans calls shall be ignored. Now that VA has implemented this new policy, they start by feeding you with BS, just like the letter above. VA thinks Veterans are mushrooms...they keep us in the dark and feed us BS. Seriously, you are going to have to wait for VA's response. Their response time is "as usual", when the VA gets a Round Tuit. Edited May 19, 2020 by broncovet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slangpdx Posted May 22, 2020 Author Share Posted May 22, 2020 (edited) Tx for reply. Phone call with VA primary care yesterday. Unknown to me it was in the works for me to get the urine test at the VA as requested but it died on April 9 because the lab head didn't do anything. I wrote electronic message May 8. Primary doc reactivated the chain, said he didn't think this was an unreasonable request, said similar to PSA which VA doesn't typically order but will if vet asks for it. He said he had no idea what or who a "Service Line Advocate" was. Edited May 22, 2020 by slangpdx typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slangpdx Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 (edited) Update. Got call from nurse today. They have ordered the test kit (actually 2, apparently both for me), 63 days after I made the initial request. So I guess the right thing to do was do nothing and wait, at least they have been responsive. It is a send out to a 3rd party lab. There are two versions of the test one more accurate and more expensive than the other, don't know which it will be. Edited June 5, 2020 by slangpdx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now