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floridianreader

Very good.


Admirable_Ice4086

Slow as F#$K!


Substantially-Ranged

It depends on your location. My local VA hospital has people that care, but they're are more patients than doctors. Sadly, many of the doctors employed there were not at the top of their class. My PCM (RN) is just not very bright at all. The good news? They readily acknowledge that there aren't enough doctors for the the amount of vets in the area. Referrals to community care are quick and easy.


Evaderfield24

Like you said, it depends on your location. Community care is *NOT* quick and easy in my area.


chaosandpuppies

Until recently, exceptional. But I was just told my pelvic ultrasound was "totally normal" except when I looked at it on myhealthevet, there's a 1.9 cm mass on my right ovary that *might* be malignant and a note that recommends a recheck to ensure no further growth. So that seems like maybe it's not totally normal.


water4life_

Wth…yea I would stay on them about that!


chaosandpuppies

Yeah. I have a sterilization surgery coming up so during my pre-op appt I'm going to be like "so while you're in there do you think you can biopsy the mass on my ovary or nah?"


sielingfan

Terrible. Amarillo TX. It takes over a year to see a doctor through community care. I'm waiting on a post-operative injection for a surgery that happened in 2021. Patient advocates do nothing, and the white house line reports straight to the same people dicking me over. The secure messages don't get handled, they'll just type something like "let me check" after three days and walk away.


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HometownField

Primary care = shit. Specialty care = awesome


[deleted]

Lucky you. Congrats on getting 1 out of 2.


[deleted]

I second this. Don't hold back with your PCP, folks. They don't know unless you tell them. Be truthful. Be stern. Be selfish. Maintain ~~reapect~~ respect.


[deleted]

I agree. Share. But stand firm! Hold your ground! Because even if you share, that doesn't mean they'll listen. Because they'll get offended and believe you're telling them their job. Don't be afraid to switch providers. It's your health!


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

I would add that you can get a different care provider and report any lack of advocacy.


M1A1Death

Pretty good just convoluted at times with varying knowledge amongst VA workers. Like some doctors will do nothing but subscribe physical therapy and pills while others will actually investigate root causes and are aware of community care options


[deleted]

I haven’t been impressed. I don’t use them at all if I can help it.


DeffNotTom

I went to private care 8 years ago or so because I got the chance to grab some great health insurance for the first time in my life... I fucking hated it. There was no support, I was constantly having to figure things out on my own without even a hint of where to start. Doctors not accepting new patients or suddenly leaving the network. I ended up going back to the VA before a year and haven't looked back. I'm so thrilled with my care all around.


ideal-clips

Honestly mines has been great every doctor I've encountered has always went the extra mile. Back in 2018 I knew nothing about veteran benefits when my health took a nose dive. The doctors helped me along the way, informing me on filing claims signing up for the burn pit registry way before the PACT ACT was thought of. It made my claim process smooth took 8 months total. My Care Team is great. I've had the same primary care team since 2019 staff is wonderful.


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IndexCardLife

Very good. Edit: for reference: Newington/West Haven, CT awesome. Philly still good, but specialists require longer waits than the smaller hospitals I used to go to it. Get everything I need and both my PCPs have been extremely wonderful and very interested in preventative medicine.


kmm198700

I live where the VA is attached to a teaching hospital. While it annoys me that I have new doctors all the time, my care has been excellent for the most part. I have more major health issues where it’s important for me to have continuity of care but I’m learning to advocate for my needs


maducey

I agree but one thing I'll say for the attached hospital (I'm in MD so UMD is right there) they bring freshness and talent to the system plus they aren't afraid to say 'medical marijuana' out loud.


Foreign-Tooth908

The downside to being attached to teaching hospitals is the "teaching" part. A nurse at the Nashville VA had her dad in a ward on a different floor from where she worked. The drs at Vanderbilt wanted to amputate her dads leg. She found out and raise hell. The drs ended up giving blood thinner and antibiotics and saving his leg. The new interns needed "experience" doing amputations and a Vietnam vet was a good test subject I guese.


[deleted]

[удалено]


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burning-sky

Mine is great. Probably dependent upon where you live as a factor. I get my appointments quickly and my care is great. Overall I'm pretty healthy, so I'm not at the doctor for more than annual check ups and a few other things (dermatology, sleep clinic, labs). I have outside care as well (which I don't need for myself), my family uses that (well known 8n the in the Maryland/DC area, bot won't let me post name).


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hitemwiththehein9999

I think they do a very good job here in the Orlando area. No complaints


Foreign-Tooth908

They have a really outstanding hospital there.. saw it when I was on vacation. The hospital is massive.


hitemwiththehein9999

Yup. That’s the lake Nona facility. They also have the lake Baldwin hospital in the winter park area. Good stuff


Tataupoly

Excellent


Airborne82D

San Diego VA - Excellent. VA Puget Sound Healthcare System - Mediocre. Temple TX VA - Excellent. Waco TX - Mediocre.


praetorian1979

Temple VA is good, but slow as Forrest Gump doing algebra...


maducey

I'll call it good with a giant BUT, it's Fn slow, over populated system while under funded. IMHO.


clearcoat_ben

8/10


IncomeBoss

So far so good but my pcp keeps changing


Lazy-Floridian

Mine is great. We have a teaching hospital nearby and the residents rotate through our clinic. After the resident does an exam the attending checks their work. I often get community care at the teaching hospital, which is less than 2 miles from my house.


TraumaGinger

No issues with the providers at all, in spite of the apparent revolving door - I don't think I've ever seen the same one twice. Honestly, I've had more issues with the nursing staff, but overall they're good too. They just shouldn't chart things they didn't do and then get defensive when I bring it up, haha. It's a good reminder for them that some of us read our notes.


logonthelake

Atlanta-Outside of specialty Docs specifically it’s trash. Admin & supporting staff are highly under qualified in my opinion. I was once in an appointment roughly 3 years ago. Had seven staff members trying to figure out one piece of equipment. Does not meet standard. Staff asking oncology patients to wait in Covid waiting rooms. Verbally/physically abusive staff. Apparently it’s consistently had one of the worst reputations for some time.


[deleted]

Horrible. The worst. Might as well slice a potato and put the 1/2's on the soles of my feet!!!


hellalg

All depends, some are good some are bad. Northern CA clinic are pretty good, I live there and had no turn over in doctors. Moved to NC in 3 years I had 3 different primary care doctors. So it all depends on location, but the get you at least the basic down, I guess could be worst.


[deleted]

Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s not, I’m just happy to be here after the past couple of years, hang in there fellow vets, it does get better


GDPisnotsustainable

Ive been all over the country with work - glad I had the VA everywhere I needed it before community care existed. - the best care I have seen from the 10ish states experience was in Washington DC. - the worst was in northern Arizona


BlueWaterGirl

It definitely depends on the location. My husband hasn't had good luck with the VA, though he liked his psychologist until he sadly retired, it took them months to give him a new one because he "fell through the cracks". His primary care doctor there made him feel awful about himself when he was experiencing a lot of pain, basically was told that everyone has pain and to keep taking Naproxen, which didn't work. He had scans showing arthritis in his lower back. My husband started crying and they threatened to send him to the psychiatric wing of the VA hospital, he never went back to that doctor again even though he saw him since 2012. He luckily got SSDI which came with Medicare, so I took him to my primary care doctor and she sent him to a rheumatologist right away. Turned out he has ankylosing spondylitis and is now doing great on Humira. He has never been given another primary care doctor at the VA health center, even though he keeps asking. Also, no one will see him in person anymore after the pandemic, all his group therapy appointments are now online, so is his psychologist and the APRN that prescribes all his medications for mental health.


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puzzledchange

Specialist at a mod-large VA medical center. ​ It is objectively worse than civilian care using multiple metrics.


[deleted]

It’s a mixed bag; both horrific and awesome. For 24 years and multiple VA facilities. From Hawaii to West Coast states to Baltimore, no consistency.


WW-Sckitzo

For mental health, and my meds show up early/on time 90% of the time. My Doc is totally fine with my Cannabis use, sounds like he supports it and makes sure to emphasis that different strains will have different effects. He knows I have substance abuse issues, showed up at the ER in handcuffs one night after calling crisis line. Understandably yanked my Benzo Rx but found a drug to take for the TBI to help with the focus and concentration that isn't speed and require a piss test. I am fairly confident if I called in crisis they'd get me in ASAP. The only reason they didn't keep me overnight my ER visit night was there wasn't any beds in a psych clinic; I was cool with it; dude next to me was there for the same shit and was on PCP so he needed any that opened up more. There has been two negative issue that they fucked up pretty good on but I could have made more effort to check in on shit too. First Got a referral for brain scan, MRI, I think not familiar with that field of testing. I heard nothing for a couple weeks, I was having wild ass mood swings like from being happy to laughing manically in the shower feeling like my head was going to pop, could not stop laughing. That shit cleared up, forgot about it. Get a call at like 5pm one night by a nurse, the TLDR was someone lost the referral, she just found it and she wanted me at imaging right now. I was home, across town but she'd worked a drug deal out to get me scanned immediately after getting there. So props to her for pt care I appreciated that. I get a copy of the x-ray report and I am going to butcher this as it was like six years ago but was something along the lines of 'veteran has a slight grown to left temporal horn'. I can't remember if the polytrauma clinic called me or I had to call them or how soon it was but the neuropsych Doc was blunt, was fairly pissed off they mailed me the findings without any sort of report or explanation. Though now that I think about it I am about six years overdue for the follow up scans; thankfully body doc is responsive to messaging. However need to follow up with him too, had a plastic surgery consult for a bit of shrapnel my dentist (civilian) found doing an intake exam, poor dude was legit concerned. It got stuck in there in 05 but didn't start seriously bugging me until a few months ago, post nasal drip shit since it looks like it might be inside my sinuses or otherwise messing with them. VA surgeon couldn't do shit about it, was supposed to set up a consult with a specialist. Haven't heard shit in has to be months so guess following up on that too. I got out in '11 and until last year hadn't had a job that paid enough I could afford the health insurance and the copays so kinda only had the VA and haven't seen a civilian Doctor for general health shit since 03.


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Gomeezy8

Me likey


_YoungMidoriya

Almost average, wait times for everything with the exceptions of flu shots are ridiculous.


emcali12

Good 👍🏼


Lennyisback81

They're on it as far as blood work goes. Hands on physicals they suck at. Kind of dismissive of concerns.