You know what they say about the importance of first impressions, well I believe it’s true. “Welcome to MyVA” is a perfect example of a Veteran-centric program that will build customer loyalty and show the best of VA right from the start.
Enrolling for VA care is a life-changing decision for Veterans. Choosing your health care provider is a leap of faith that will impact your entire life. “Welcome to MyVA” (W2MyVA) starts that relationship right with a welcoming call from an informed, service-oriented VA representative.
Veterans have many choices to make and many questions when they enroll for VA care, and a friendly voice from VA’s Health Resource Center can help ease their concerns. These representatives not only welcome the Veteran but also are trained to give a basic overview of VA health care services and available benefits. They also assist the Veteran in scheduling their initial health care appointment.
Nearly 400,000 Veterans have been contacted since the pilot W2MyVA program started in April 2014. The W2MyVA phone call is made in conjunction with the introductory letter and personalized handbook each Veteran receives upon enrollment. These tools help make the transition to VA care a positive experience. Veterans polled after receiving a W2MyVA call expressed appreciation and a high level of satisfaction.
Veterans or their family members can also contact a VA representative regarding VA health care services and other VA benefits by calling toll-free 1-877-222-8387 or send a secure message through VA’s Inquiry Routing & Information System (IRIS) at https://iris.custhelp.com/app/ask or by visiting www.va.gov/healthbenefits and connecting through online chat.
The W2MyVA program gets it right, from the beginning, making the Veteran’s first experience with VA a positive one. If every team member reflects this level of service, VA will be the high-performing, Veteran-centric organization we strive to be.
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As my 1SGT used to say if you have a solution to a problem bring to me with how you think it should be implemented and what you are willing to do to help, if you have a problem but no solution then bring what you think is the cause of it and we can discuss it, but come to me to just witchy and we will see who gets tired first (pushups, lots of pushups).
As a non-VA veterans advocate for nearly 9 years I have listened to a lot of fellow veterans “witch” about the VA. But to often when I ask them to put it in black and white, with their contact information, and let me send it to those who need to know or who can fix it, they back off. Staying silent means it either wasn’t a problem or they are willing to let the next veteran be treated the same, isn’t that a shame?
Want it fixed make a noise, a really LOUD noise, but remember you have to be part of the solution!!!
I can not feel that some of these comments are stretched a little. I have been enrolled as a VA patient since 1981. I have seen the service go from bad to wonderful. What we do not realize is how many patients each facility sees in one regular day. I want the best service possible, just as you do. Come up with solutions (firing everyone is not a solution), submit them and you have done your part. Think of this, what if the VA began crying and complaining about the patients who cancel appointments at the last minute so they don’t miss a fishing trip. You get the idea, if not you are part of the problem. Be part of the solution, stop crying and ask what you can do to help. Thank you for your service, please don’t mess up all the good you have done for your country by acting like an idiot.
I have been in the VA system since the early 90 and I have read a lot of comments from different individuals, and from what I have experienced from the 10 or 15 different VA facilities it is that facility that individuals have problems with. I have had some great experiences at some VA hospitals and not at others. I have been to 4 different ones in the last 4 years and only one would I recommend to a fellow veteran. The one I currently go to is not at all concerned about the veterans and their problems. Most of the employees are busy with cell phones and haven’t got time to do the job they were hired for. A previous hospital I was assigned to the employees walking around and sitting in the waiting areas watching TV or standing at the counters taking up the clerks time that was supposed to be signing in the Veteran. then there is the equipment that the VA’s have purchased to streamline the veterans being seen faster and and taken care of better that are always broke not to mention the phone systems that never work right. So over all some places excel at caring for veterans while others add to the broke system. One of the greatest problems I have seen is the primary care doctors not taking sufficient time to address the problems the veteran has and the lack of availability of appointments. I get to see my primary care doctor once ever six months anything sooner is not happening. So you save all your problems until then then you have 15 mins or less in most cases to tell the doctor about your problems, all the while you are addressing him he/she is busy typing their report in to the VA system which in most cases is not what you say or came for. So while some care is good other care is bad and broken, of which the newest blunder is the VA Choice program. It is the biggest waste of VA funds I have seen in quite a while. My spouse and I both have tried it and They approve your care then after you go they refuse to pay the bill leaving you to pay it. If you have the mandated health care insurance they insist the provider file it with them and you pay co-pays or co-insurance. TriWest has done this a number of times now and left us holding bills we would not have if we went to the VA Hospital ER or specialty care clinics. So as it stands from my point of view weather the VA is good or bad depends on the individual you talk to. I have seen much improvement in the VA system as a whole but at the same time I see a lot of waste and lack of care in most VA facilities.
As a Purple Heart veteran of WWII, disability rating 100%, still deaf and left-side blind , my main of two hearing aides fell out of my ear and vanished. No search by family availed, after sweeping, scraping etc. Reporting to Audio at the NYC 23rd St. branch, got me a curt, borderline hostile response from a purported secretary of the doctor, well aware with the requested “last four” of my status and conditions, gave me a 9/16/16, 9 A.M. appointment. My appeal that the date is too distant and the hour too early for a 96 year old totally disabled veteran got me a snapped insistance and dismissal. Can you help, or is this for the Veterans Justice Project?
I am still waiting for an answer to the question I ask a month ago
I am already enrolled in e-benefits, do I need to enrole in My VA also???
The VA does not know how to return phone calls. Over the years I have placed many, many phone calls to VA facilities, left voice mail messages every time, and 99% of my phone calls were never returned! That is a catastrophe!
H. James Hulton III
Vietnam Era Vet
I have been using the Loma Linda VA since 2010. At the time I enrolled I had just completed stage 3b cancer treatments from a private care team. I was at that time given 18-24 months to live. I enrolled in VA and I met with my primary care doctor and she went to work immediately on setting up appointments in specialty clinics and as I said that was in 2010. I have been cancer free and am still living against the odds I owe my life to the VA and the dedicated doctors and staff.
Well those who have had good experiences must not be going to the same VA facilities that I have encountered. There are some good doctors and nurses in the VA system, but just as many incompetent ones. Some of the physicians I have encountered should be washing cars, not treating the sick and injured.
NO ONE INCLUDING THE GOVERNMENT CARES ABOUT THE VETERANS OR WHAT WE ARE ENTITLED TO… IF THEY DID WE WOULD NOT HAVE TO WAIT YEARS WHEN FILING FOR COMPENSATION OR FILING FOR AN APPEAL. THE SYSTEM IS TOTALLY INEQUITABLE…
I submitted a claim for 100% due to being out of work for surgery and hospitalization for an already VA rated problem, I have not been paid yet and was recently told last week that it may be another year before it is reviewed.
I submitted an appeal over a year ago for a disability claim and I was told it will probably be review in 2019.
I have met vets that don’t have the physical problems or limitations I have that receive far more compensation than I do. The administrative process for claims needs to be flushed and rebuilt from the ground up. The VA system is BROKEN111
I am a U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam vet (RVN 66-67) and have used the VA for a variety of services. Always had excellent services with VA since 1984. I signed up and continued for 32+ years. Responsive and engaging clinical staff.
I have been with the VA for my healthcare since 1970 the system has come a long way since then it has improved over 100% and they are working hard to improve. You just need to know how to communicate with health care team and fellow proper procedure for that care
I have been using VA services for over 10 years and cannot ask for better care.
The VA tried to sugar coat everything, this is just another try. The VA is broken and will be forever, until these worthless employees that need to be fired are fired. I have gone all the way up to central office with my concerns, from vindictive nurses to doctors that are incompetent!!! Not one person in upper management will listen. So when the VA says Getting it Right is a bunch of Bull Crap!!!
As a DAV, I want to say thank you to my personnel physician, Dr. Daniel Rappaport, of the Charlotte VA Clinic. He has become a dear friend. No one could as for better care than what Dr. Rappaport provides me. In addition, I want to thank those at the Salisbury, VA clinic who have be friendly yet professional in their various services in my behalf.
And, lastly, I want to say how proud I am of our brand new “massive” clinic just opened on Tyvola Road in West Charlotte. This clinic is 10 minutes closer to me than the other one just off Harris Boulevard in East Charlotte. Indeed, just today, I received a reminder card for my appointment next week with the Audio Department in the new center. I have received two new hearing aids valued at $6,000.00 together from the VA. One quit working and that is what this appointment is about. Can you believe it? They even provide replacement batteries for them. I am wearing glasses provided to my by the VA. Indeed, any day now I expect to receive a new pair of glasses newly adjusted to my ever changing eye sight.
Of interest is that I am still using my local physician as my main doctor. He is much closer than is Dr. Rappaport. However, Dr. Rappaport works hand in hand with my local physician in my treatment. I am most grateful to the VA and I am more grateful for the tax payers of the USA who generously pay for my health services.
We totally agree. We go to patient advocate about workers and doctors and nothing ever changes. My husband has in his records things he has never said. Last week he saw a new speechologist, either a resident or a practicing student. What she put in his records is unbelievable. His cardiology doctor will not allow him to have any procedures for.