**IMPORTANT** Vendor Exams and rescheduling

[brokensoldier244th]

If you have a vendor exam and they cancel because of Covid they are supposed to reschedule when they are able, and alert us as well through our portal of the exam status (we log onto them and check anyway just in case). However if YOU call and cancel an exam and don't reschedule (due to covid, difficulty, whatever) they are NOT reaching back out to reschedule. They are NOT closing the exams request, it just sits in stasis....and sits.....and sits....... you have to call them, or call/write/email/21-4138 US  so we can contact them to let them know you are open for scheduling contact again.

 

This just started in the last 2 weeks or so. There is no mass letter yet from us, and I don't know if the vendors sent anything out or not. Here is what I have been sending to veterans that cross my desk that are in this situation. I got called out on it this morning by a Quality evaluator through my boss, but once I explained WHY I sent a letter (how are vets supposed know if the vendors don't tell them, and VA hasn't ginned up a letter of their own yet?) he decided to take it back up the chain so I wouldn't get dinged for an unnecessary action that might delay a claim, and possibly add my text block to our list of 'canned' responses so we don't have to type so much.

 

"Veteran Name...."

Vendors for Exams are no longer contacting veterans that have been unavailable for

appointments due to concerns about Covid-19. The exam request is still valid, but they are

waiting for contact back from the veteran before rescheduling examinations. Please

contact [VENDOR]  to reschedule to indicate willingness for physical or telehealth examination, or

contact VA at 1-800-827-1000 to let us know so we can contact the Vendor, or in writing via Ebenefits (VA Form 21-4138) if you  wish to reschedule or no longer wish to have these examinations performed.

[broncovet]

Good to know.  It would be easy to think that if VA cancelled an exam, they would call you to reschedule.  This sounds like a "trap" for Vets, but is more likely because they are overwhelmed.  

[brokensoldier244th]

Bronc, 

Keep in mind that this is not VAMC exams- we handle those directly, and do followup on those daily. I get emails daily from various exams that I have scheduled for my veterans letting me know if those have been cancelled due to *reasons*, rescheduled, etc- and the VAMCs handle that. Im talking about the vendors specifically- they are not VAMC, or even VA, so we have no direct control over their scheduling practices, and believe me this has caused a considerable amount of concern on our end. It's not a trap- we didn't know thats what they (vendors) were doing until they told us- I had noticed because I saw the same names start popping up over and over in my case load as they got recycled back to me ( I keep a folder of every case I work on with notes, going back about two months worth, so I can refer to things that I was thinking/doing the last time I worked on the case)

I got in trouble yesterday from Quality Assurance for appending that text to my cases as they went out because I took the initiative to create 'non- approved' text. I then spent two hours in various Teams meetings via video with my supervisor, mid level mgt, and QA defending what I did with some simple logic- 

If the vendors always have rescheduled automatically, and kept trying- thus handling it on their end, and the VAMCS handle their own scheduling/rescheduling (have have for decades) it stands to reason that the veteran community is used to exams being rescheduled for them, getting a letter/text/whatever, and going to said exam. 

If the vendors have now changed this dichotomy so that the responsibility now falls on the veteran to reschedule like a  regular doctor/patient interaction, but have not notified said population- then how are YOU all to KNOW whats going on? You are conditioned for years to wait to be told to go to an exam, and sometimes you do call in via "Peggy" or Iris to find out whats going on, but, for the most part, you are used to not having to worry about it.

Follow so far? 

So WE are told that the vendors/contractors will no longer automatically keep trying to reschedule. Whether or not that is some kind of contract violation is way outside my paygrade. Vendors won't reschedule, they have no mass mailing or anything to you guys that I know of. WE have no mass mailing for you guys because WE just got told a few weeks ago, and as you all know, things at the higher levels have to filter down, so getting a mass mailing out to y'all takes time, for whatever reason. 

I told them that I felt it was my right as a VSR to take it upon myself to notify the veteran community that I directly work with, one vet at a time, with text cropped in part from the memo we received. I don't enter it as a 'work credit' so I don't inflate my work/productivity ratings for the day. I'm doing what I think is within the mission of helping veterans, and if the vendors won't do it, then it is OUR responsibility to do so.

The net result of that meeting is that I got a private 'atta boy' email from my boss (two months until im up for my first promotion, so, yay me, I guess), and my boiler plate text was parsed and there was one suggested minor edit. I now have approval to continue, and my 'text'  is now being forwarded up the chain along with my concerns to be implemented at some point for everyone to use. 

Its slow, its cumbersome, but I do try to help, even at (professional) risk sometimes to myself (minor, but still). I'm 'that guy' in the organization. I was ''That guy" when I was enlisted, too, where my cadre figured out eventually that usually my instincts were correct (most of the time) or at least mostly on point- so they helped me develop it rather than stifle me or write me up all the time for doing what I thought was right for my little squad of soldiers (I was only an E4. promotable, when I got injured and medboarded).

For my next trick, I intend to use my Master's in Instructional Design that im finally getting in May to try to revamp the internal training that is used for new VSRs so it doesn't all look like slideshows from the 1990s, or powerpoint to death. We'll see how that goes- thats going to be a longer road that I can't start pursuing until im a GS9 or above. 

[GBArmy]

I've had several exams over the last year or two with VES, LHI. QTC, and the VA. Some have been actual face to face, some virtual and some A.C.E. where they review your records and you are supposed to be stand-by in case the examiner needs clarification on something. Things are "a-changing",  as Brokensoldier indicates. (By the way, my hat's off to him for his continued advocacy of veterans at his VA position. Keep doing what you are doing, brother!) What I have seen a few times are that their systems for contacting (and re-contacting) veterans is not very good. I call Peggy, find out that I'm going to be scheduled for a C&P at a contractor, like LHI. I then call the contractor, and proceed to get into their system for the exam. If they have a web page, sign on to it. I wait a week, then call again and find out they need (more) info to proceed. We get that done and then within a week I get either a phone call or a letter confirming the details of my now scheduled exam. I found that not doing this process, it just hangs in iimbo; you have to advocate for yourself. As long as you're polite, there is no issue. You are actually doing them a favor; they may have a work order, but they don't get paid unless they actually do the work, so you are helping them with the process. Like everything else with the VA claims process, you need to advocate for yourself because it means more to you than anyone else.