How to Save a Veteran's Life: VA Hospital Computer Glitch Blocks Covered Care

Every veteran fighting covered condition limitations needs to bring this article to their next doctor's visit.

Wounded soldier in wheelchair

Please share this article with any vet who uses the VA hospital system for their healthcare.

Doctors and nurses who work for Veterans Affairs are trained in many things. For example, they are trained to report each other for potential violations like taking pictures of a medical record with a telephone. Some doctors are also required to sign documentation that states they will not publicly disparage the government.

In all of the training VA hospital medical workers receive, one thing is absent: How to ensure an in-service health condition is fully covered by the VA hospital system.

This screen grab was sent to us by an anonymous doctor in the VA system about two important selections that need to be corrected for a soldier to receive proper 100% coverage for a medical condition directly caused by their time in service.

VA doctors are not trained to use this submenu, but it can mean life or death for a soldier with a condition that should be covered, like missing legs from an IED.

#1 Treatment Factors Checkbox Must Check ‘YES’

According to our informant, this box is hidden in a submenu that can be found when selecting a condition that is added to a patient’s record. When a condition is added, this box automatically defaults to ‘NO’.

For a condition to be 100% covered (like lung damage from Iraqi burn pits), the doctor must go into this submenu or ‘module’, and change the checkbox to ‘YES’.

Again, VA doctors and nurses are NOT TRAINED TO DO THIS. Why?

#2 Immediacy Must Be “CHRONIC”

For an issue to be covered by VA benefits, it must be labeled ‘CHRONIC’.

Chronic is not selected by default in this difficult-to-find CPRS submenu, so any issue presented is automatically blocked from coverage.

Time for a VA Reckoning

Soldiers who suffered for our country are tortured across the world as they seek coverage for conditions that were clearly caused by their time in service, but red tape and bad software design have built a system that prevents these brave servicemen and women from getting prompt relief from these conditions. The frustration these service members experience may be in part why we are facing tremendous numbers of homeless veterans and others suffering from mental health issues, possibly caused by medications like Mefloquine that service members were required to take.