Sean Kendall Veterans Law Firm
Posted on May 29, 2014

Veterans health is jeopardized by the VA Medical Center (VAMC) scandal.  You must be aggressive in securing timely appointments, and this means being aggressive with the VA patient representative at the hospital in order to secure an appointment.  With wait times for medical appointments up to 115 days in Phoenix, people have died waiting for medical care.  However, VA's system allows patients to be aggressive with he VA and file claims for medical care when a much needed medical appointment is not timely set.  

If an appointment for initial or follow-up care is not given, a veteran may file a claim for medical care with the VA's patient representative at the VA facility responsible for the veteran's medical care.  The VA will be required to provide a written response for why medical care is not being provided within a reasonable period of time; the result will usually not be a written response, but instead the appointment for care will be given.  The VA likes to avoid these written decisions on care, and to avoid this, they provide veterans the medical care they are requesting.  If the claim for care is denied, then a veteran may file an appeal, which is heard by an outside medical center.  VA regulations on medical appeals are fairly straightforward, but the medical centers hate dealing with appeals and they would much prefer to avoid them, at any cost.  Setting the medical appointment and follow-up care requested by the veteran is what the VAMC most often done in response to these appeals.  

I urge you to contact the VA's patient advocate if you are unable to get a timely medical appointment.  Contact our office if you need help with a denial of medical care or a denial of VA benefits.  

 

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