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For and about Hawaii's military
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Service-connected
disabilities get vets
priority VA careQuestion: I am currently rated 60 percent disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs. I heard that the VA is changing its policy on priority health-care appointments for disabled veterans. Could you elaborate on this?
Answer: The VA has more than 280,000 veterans on wait lists or scheduled in excess of six months for nonemergency outpatient appointments. Some of these veterans are 50 percent or greater service-connected or require care for a service-connected disability. To address this problem, the VA has published a regulation to establish priority access to care for all veterans service-connected 50 percent or greater, or veterans needing care for a service-connected disability.
This new priority includes hospitalization and outpatient care for treatment both service-connected and not.
This new policy will take effect in two phases.
Beginning Oct. 1, veterans service-connected 50 percent or greater who have an appointment scheduled greater than 30 days or are on a wait list for an appointment must be contacted. New patients must be notified of this policy and, if they request, must be scheduled within 30 days.
Established patients, if requested upon contact by VA, must have their need for an appointment reviewed to determine what time line is medically appropriate.
In the second phase, which will be implemented over the next year, VA will provide priority access to 40 percent or less of the veterans who are seeking care for their service-connected disabilities.
The Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical and Regional Office Center is in the process of identifying veterans who are service-connected 50 percent and above and have pending appointments greater than 30 days.
Such veterans will be contacted by letter or by phone. For further information on this new regulation, call 433-0600.
If you have questions about your benefits as a veteran,
call Fred Ballard at the Veterans Affairs at 433-0049
or the Star-Bulletin at 529-4747.Gregg K. Kakesako, who covers military affairs for the Star-Bulletin,
can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
