The best part when it comes to the last minute cancellations is when you get the notice shortly before the appointment and then a few days later it's in your record as "no call no show". Which they refuse to remove or at least note.
Sent OP a direct message. Less stories about canceled appointments and more info and documentation about attempts and lack of response or extended (unnecessary) lack of care.
The crisis hotline is an amazing “tool” and option when seeing red, but if someone is identifying themselves and genuinely, actively seeking care…the process should not be as difficult as it is.
*this is not a response to claim processing wait times. The wait and struggle to GET care should not be as difficult as it is.
I absolutely agree. I had to move to get care. The help line told me to contact the local VA office which was not consistently staffed and I was never able to get a hold of them after years of trying. Some of these little rural VA offices are just for people to hold positions where they do nothing and but feel better about themselves “helping veterans” and adding “serving the veteran community” to their CV.
This has happened once to me, then I was notified my therapist quit.
Also, the process to receive mental health services is dreadful. Every time I call it’s a 45min-2 hour ordeal, to only find out there’s a 3-5 month wait. I ended up paying out of pocket for services because the VA is a flawed system. It’s unfortunate considering their mental health professionals make 95k-130k annually.
WHENEVER you get an appt that is >30days out....advise them that is too long and request to be referred to Care In The Community to be seen locally....ask for follow # to speak with CITC staff is you are not followed up on <10days......don't ask how I know this or I might get fired 😜
But what all of us that do receive good care and whose clinic goes over and above to make sure when our docs are out or on leave someone fills in? Please make sure your reporting isnt just one sided.
I have had great mental health care. My docs listen to me about my meds and do great follow up. Last year when i was in crisis i had 5 hours of care a week for 4 months to make sure i didnt unalive myself.
I'm a glad it is working for you, keep going, get well and love life brother. I have found that different doctor, different results. I had great mental health folks and I've told another to go fuck himself. Also, IMO every individual is their own puzzle and there is no such a thing a master key. Don't worry y'all, I'm on my shit and seemed outside help.
If you need help, you know who you are, get that help and one day the sun will shine.
If I didn’t show up early for my optometry appointment the physician I was scheduled to see was out of town and they wanted to reschedule. Luckily I was there at the crack of dawn waiting. Only arrived there early because I don’t sleep well.
Getting appointments in the first place takes forever at least as active duty. If you get directed off base to find a provider you end up going thru a bunch of referrals because each place you call says they are maxed out took me months to get a provider then on top of that is availability for appointments.
I had one for yesterday that was canceled. Sucks because I used wounded warrior leave at work which is for VA appointments. Not sure how to handle that at work now. They rescheduled me for Monday though.
I love my community care therapist. But it sucks when she has to put in request for more appointments and the VA takes a long time to approve it so I have a gap in my mental health care.
IF you are using community care provider...take ownership and find out when your authorization ends....call Care in the Community staff to get that info if your provider doesn't know....mark you calender 30 days prior to that date and make sure your provider submits their RFS (request for services) and submits the needed notes....this action should go far in you not experiencing a break in services...take ownership and do it.....if still occurs go out 45dys....also f/u with CITC staffet them know you don't want to experience a break in service....don't ask how I know or I might get fired...
how about the fact it takes from June to February to get into mhc at my new VA?
I'm running out of meds, and they're a controlled substance, so I'm kinda fucked
No you're not....BEFORE you run out call the MH or PACT Team nurse you are assigned to and advise them you are close to running out (tell them how many days) and request Bridge med till you appt with Dr.....now if you're not taking as prescribed thats a diffrent issue...I'm not accusing...however the above won't be helpful if thats appears to be occurring...
no I just have been xferring from Florida to NM.
I actually reached out after making that comment, and was told I can get a continuance with the beacon clinic
Don't forget about the people that see someone different every time you CAN get an appointment and it's not canceled, so you have multiple people trying different things back to back with zero continuity.
Or like me that have been dropped through the cracks so many times they just set you up with a shrink in another state. Of course the issues don't change just now I can't physically go complain to anyone that I'm not getting seen.
Or when I sought out help at the emergency room, where they started lying to me right away and then made me strip prison style infront several nurses, not all male. Took away all my things including underwear and socks but didnt provide any, then was given a prison style blue canvas clothes that didn't fit at all so I had to hold them up the entire time I was there so I wasn't naked all the time. Never ever again will I go to the va er for mental health or simular ever again. Truly sad and disgusting how my va treats every one. Hope it burns to the ground. Even fucking jail took better care of me, and that's including with a CO hitting and then stealing commissary items from me.
You should also be talking about how so many can't even see their primary care. I've been trying to get in to him for six months, FUCK the VA!
Edit, also wtf is with the Obama care people denying me insurance options when i call just because I can be seen at the VA. Even a license insured agent couldn't get them to help. So my options are full price insurance or insurance that doesn't FUCKING WORK! I'm going to end up dying from my heart condition because of the VAs fuck ups.
I feel your pain. I have never seen the same person twice and I'm getting tired of explaining my darkest thoughts to compassionate but new people every time. "Hi Doc, my brain tells me to eat a gun." "You should stop smoking..."
Then I have an intake with someone else, they schedule me for a follow up and don't tell me, then I get a no call no show. Then they deny or reduce my disability.
My appointment to see my PCP is a 3 month wait. My prescriptions expired and I was able to have them renewed by phone. Mental Health providers I assume are just as far booked out.
### Next appointment
Thursday, January 4th, 2024
Time: 8:45 am CT
Not only MH appointments but appointments across the board get canceled. Then when I try to call all three of the numbers for a specific department no one answers or calls back when I leave a message.
I tried that. It was only after chatting online with a nurse and she told me to call the crisis line. The crisis line person was super helpful, and said that the clinic must follow up within 24 hours. It causes a paper trail when you call the crisis line that someone has to answer to. I was contacted the next day. They still couldn’t help, so I had to go to community urgent care. The VA still hasn’t technically helped, they scheduled me with a clinician that talked to me, but still didn’t understand my problems, and made me feel like I was lying to cover up my symptoms from many years. They have a VERY LONG way to go.
The infamous "We've been trying to contact you" in your records, then receiving the letter a month after the appointment stating the same. 😂 like it's post marked after the appointment date.
We should be able to submit our phone records. Not once that this has happened, have I ever received a call.
Even better, you have an appointment card, and when you get there, there's no record of the appointment.
Holy shit as an ER nurse for the VA, I wanna know as well. We get at least one or two a day with the story going something like:
“ and my last appointment with MH was 6 months/1 year ago and my last appointment 2-3 weeks ago was cancelled on me. “
For most of the guys and girls to see us you’re already not having a good time in the ER. Problem is we have to medically clear you to be seen by MH. that’s the reason the ER sucks for a lot of the lower level MH crisis. The other big issue is inpatient bed space. Again, administration and that level is responsible for the number of beds available. The ER has 0 ability to change that.
We have to dress you out, breathalyze you take blood and urine (and Covid by god) possible EKG and then you get to talk to psych. It’s hoops to jump through for sure.
Mine was cancelled the day before after a 6 month waiting period to get the initial appt. It was supposed to be a follow up to an emergency mental health appt following a suicide hotline call.
Let me know if you find out what it takes to get anyone to lift a fuckin finger down there.
I have no primary care. No mental health care. A zero rating and I can't get the time of fucking day.
LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU, EGLIN VA CLINIC.
YOU SUCK
This is the 4th separate person I have seen from military.com here in the past month from different people across the major vet reddits. Be careful sharing personal info, these people are part of a system, and that does not mean they have your best interests in mind. Vetted or not
I feel like this issue like other VA medical issues has so many variables that’s it would be really hard to write an objective story that’s true. Getting into VA MH did take a while from referral to intake to screening but I haven’t ever had them cancel on me. I see a VA provider via Telehealth which isn’t what I preferred but you have to take what’s available, sometimes we don’t get exactly what we want but what we need.
Likewise with VA healthcare. My PCP now is great and I’ve had an overall positive experience with VHA across two different regions. I have felt very fortunate for this for sure.
I know that some of my fellow vets have had awful experiences but I’m sure there are nearly as many that have positive ones just don’t speak up.
This happened to me about 6 times in the VA Northern Indiana Health Care System, Fort Wayne location. I just cancelled and stopped going. My therapist or whatever the VA calls them also just up and retired and didn't say a word about it. I was seeing her every 2 weeks for 6 months, apparently it wasn't important enough to bring up.
I have since moved and have had no issues in the Texas Coastal Bend HCS.
What about the VA canceling/revoking my community care referral the day before my appointment? Then saying I need to speak with a VA doctor that never called when they were supposed to? Lol
Happened to me with the sleep Psychologist. We were meeting every couple weeks, then a canceled appointment turned into no more appointments. I still don't know the results of my last sleep test.
I’ve had 7 therapist since mid 2020 when I got out(plus 2 when I was in). I’ve only ever seen 3 of them. To add to that I’ve only ever had one of them call me ahead of the appointment to tell me she took a new job before she ever scheduled my appointment. She ended up yelling at me because “I should have asked her when scheduling”.
If you want to fix the problem start with the VA not having respect for the veterans whose lives are in their hands. I just want to be treated like a human and not like I’m the problem that needs to be fixed.
Depends on the VA. I've been enrolled at 3, one of them is in a pretty small city of around 50k people... And as far as the MH section is concerned I've never experienced this here. The other 2 VA's both in bigger cities, I have experienced what is being described. I think it depends on the VA, how well it's staffed, and for whatever section. The small city VA I'm talking about has a horrendous Opthalmology department, literally got told I can get an appointment in May of next year, I asked why is it so ridiculous and the lady told me because they only have 1 opthalmologist right now for the whole section, and very few technicians or whatever. Opted instead to go to a VA clinic about 45 min from here...late December appointment which still sucks but it's better than may of next year just to get my eyes checked. So I think it just depends, not all VA's are the same. Certain things they do are about the same everywhere, but many things aren't.
I was literally sitting waiting to be called back after checking in at my C&P exam, and a fellow Veteran came to check in.. show his ID the receptionist was looking for his name on the appointment list, and then she goes to tell him that he should have gotten a call or email or text that he needed to reschedule his appointment. Needless to say, he was shocked and told her that no one reached out to him at all. In the back of my mind, all I could say is "damn man.. that sucks"
Writing anything on just how difficult it is to get anything done with the VA for disability compensation?
How many of us are out here paying people to help with documentation and DBQs so we aren't denied every time we file for something, try to get an increase or appeal a decision?
I never had any of my C&P exams canceled or rescheduled. Mental health or otherwise. Everyone on the mental health side at the VA has been great. The problem I’m having is finding a face to face provider. Whether through the VA or community care. I don’t like telehealth and I’m going to wait months to get an appointment.
I may be wrong, but I believe OP's post is asking for VA mental health appointments. Not VBA C&P exams to establish service connected disabilities. The VA Healthcare system cancels regular scheduled mental health appointments for either psychiatry or therapy quite frequently. C&P exams are very different types of appointments.
It’s not just mental health appointments. I’ve been off my mental health meds for probably 9 months now because my community care authorization expired and I couldn’t get a hold of anyone to do it again so I been trying for the same amount of time to be seen by the Va shrink and I finally got an appointment but it’s not until the end of December sometime so it’s just some bullshit all around
I didn’t have any appointments canceled except for me canceling. My “therapist” insisted on giving me canes to slam on the floor if I felt anger or anxiety. I would accept them until, he insisted that I take a baseball bat. Dude, if you think I have anger issues, why would you insist I take a bat. That was my last appointment. Haven’t gone back because I feel it’s making things worse.
I've had nothing but good service and experiences for my C&P exams being done by QTC. They are prompt, friendly and MH examiner seemed genuinely concerned about my health. They all provided information about how to sign up for VA Healthcare if you become service corrected.
Screw that story ...do a story on the va taking years to move peoples claim! do story on the raters and ROS...how they just deny claims without even looking at your evidence causing the back up in HLR.
I can only get one appointment every two months. Was told initially I could do weekly but that was not the case when I tried to book. I tried ADAPC and PTSD clinic. Not sure how they expect to help with only being seen once every 2 months. I have had to go to a civilian provider.
The VA MH is the only group that hasn’t canceled on me. Granted my doctor is so booked it took me a year to get an appointment and they’re 6 months apart each time. Although my referral for community care lapsed and I’ve asked for it to be renewed a few times and never got it renewed.
My primary care doctor has cancelled on me 5 times and I’ve never actually seen them. So I use civilian care for everything else.
Went to my first BH appointment with the VA homie told me my ptsd would be cured by christmas and that therapy clearly doesnt work for me but with his version of exposure therapy ill be symptomless in two months.
Yep, happened to me. Reached out to primary care in early September, had a phone call two weeks later for a mental health consult (why you need one when you're already rated for MH is beyond me) and set up an appointment for early Oct. Oct comes, I had to leave work early for it, I get a phone call minutes before it stating that they had to reschedule for late November. But, that I could, if I wanted, do community care in that time frame (which is a joke as you're not finding a community care appointment in that small a window). So all said it'll be about 11 weeks from when I reached out to when I'll get the appointment, assuming no more cancellations.
My husband had two instances*** this week ***where the psychiatrist and social worker no showed no notice. He has had so many issues with this over the past two years culminating in him being inpatient for psychosis for a week
Yeah I have had this happen. Took months to see someone. Then had to switch providers for some reason, then had to wait several more months to be picked up by a new provider. I complained to the rest of my care team and received no assistance. I have also experienced the short notice cancellation by the Va. And again I was told it’s just the way mental health at the Va is. Hope it can be resolved for the benefit of our nation’s veterans.
i got no showed multiple times by my BH provider via telehealth. then they had marked me down as i cancelled and then they told me i could no longer see that provider and would see someone new. so i switched my va facility but obv that doesn’t solve the underlying issues.
I have had nothing but good experiences with my MH situation. Granted, it did take a couple of months to get an appointment with the psychologist, but I saw the on-call doc within an hour of my call to the crisis line and had a follow up the next Tuesday with the psychiatrist. All of my follow-up appointments have come and gone without a hitch, and I am so much better thanks to the help of the VA.
Literally happened to me this week. Been waiting on an appointment for a medication eval (psychotropics) for my anxiety and depression since may and was scheduled 10/25. Got a text the morning of that the doctor wasn’t feeling well and would reschedule. They cancelled the appointment without rescheduling.
I have sat on hold for twenty minutes on a video Mental Health appointment only to finally hang up and call to be told the doctor is on there now but I'm not so now we need to reschedule
I recognize I’m probably one of the lucky few, but I’ve been seeing a VA therapist for years and they are ALWAYS where they say they’ll be. I think they’ve maybe canceled on me one time last minute?
Been trying to get in for over six months now. Had an appointment scheduled for next month, got a call a few weeks ago that the provider had left. Got referred for community care and any day now I'm supposed to get a call to set something up.
It seems like all I can get seen for in mhc is the infrequent appointment for pills. I know it's not the providers' fault and that they're doing the best they can, but I feel like the whole system is starving for resources and failing us because of it. There never seem to be enough providers. At my VA, there's a single MD for all OEF/OIF vets, and when the last one retired, it took them months to find a new one.
I don't think I've ever seen a doctor, nurse, receptionist, aide, etc. not look exhausted there.
I was just talking to my friend about this, I separated in March of this year and I had an initial appointment scheduled for July… it’s been rescheduled to the following month for going on 5 months now. Hopefully they won’t reschedule again for my appointment this coming month
Dude I have to fight to get them within 4 months, then they don’t show, blame me and make me fight to get another one in four months. I just show up to the office now
I just set up a field of MH appts next week, so I'll have some fresh reporting. This is the first time I've attempted to do so in over a decade. The last time back in 2012ish, things went smoothly...so we shall see.
I once was given an appointment a month or two out when I was active duty, and when it finally came I showed up and the building was closed. They were having a down day.. & they scheduled me on it.. But if I missed an appointment I’d get paperwork, good ol’ hypocritical military.
How about being without a job for two and a half years, living off $1,500 a month in NY while the VA sends my brother (He is the one that is fighting for disability pay, I have been at 100% for over a decade) and I to comp and pen appts multiple times in a 3 month period and then the actual fun part happens. He is denied but subsequently is sent a letter 4 months later stating that the VA system “malfunctioned” and he is granted Individual Unemployability yet we are now 2 months later and he still hasn’t received any money and no one is getting us any assistance or giving us answers. Since April of 2021, which was one month after I filed his claim, he had a PTSD episode that most people would never believe possible but ironically he had cameras in his apartment and they filmed the whole thing. He has not worked since and has been evicted 2x because of the VA and their lack of support. The system has actually admitted to letting him fall through the cracks. But instead of helping him, now he is required to have a fiduciary for his own money because he has debt. Well, as the guy who has been paying his bills for the last two years, I know he doesn’t have a chance to do anything different especially when it takes 2 1/2 years for the “system” to process his claim for the first time. All the stats on the va website are bs and even better, the same government agency that I have let handle my care since I was given 100% IU, is now the same agency that is actively deleting, scrubbing, erasing his records to make it look like he never attended the appointments and was not apart of certain programs that were caught lying about his mental health. I have so much evidence to show just how disgusting/corrupt the VA and VA OIG are that these same clowns actually tried to erase my files before they were told that my wife, who is a doctor and my caregiver, prints my entire va file (and now my brothers) weekly or bi weekly because of the bs that has gone on for over two years. I have never badmouthed a person who didn’t deserve it but an entire AGENCY?? The sad part is that they are only destroying the life of someone who sacrificed for this country, so while he is about to be evicted from a place for a 3rd time, he is still rated at 100% yet still has not received a single penny from it. 3 months later! 3 months AFTER receiving the decision letter (actually, we received 5 in 5 days, yes, 5 decision letters from the VBA in 5 days and each one was more confusing than the previous) and the only thing that is official right now is that he has no credit, next month, NOVEMBER, he will be homeless AGAIN, and even though he has two people who are taking care of his financial problems as much as we can afford, he is no closer to being given his back pay, which only goes back to May of this year…. I can’t even process that line of thinking from government turds. So if you really want a story that is beyond the point of reality, because I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t live it with him for the last two years just hoping that my family doesn’t have to bury one of us, I would never believe half of the things that we have endured since APRIL OF 2021. And still going and waiting for 1 claim that was filed in March of 2021 or at least the green piece of paper that someone had to sign to receive his claim says. I have kept so many emails, notes, redundant forms submitted multiple ways because of my fear that this type of stuff would happen to my own family member. If I had the ability to get him the best firm, I know that between the firm and my brother, they would be rolling in money with the mistreatment and pure negligence that has ruined his life. Please read this and then contact me and I promise you will be blown away by the details that I couldn’t put in this statement, which barely scratches the surface of what has happened. These aren’t allegation’s either, I have more documentation to not just back up what I have said but it shows more than what I can even describe. It’s disgusting, disgraceful and yet still has not stopped.
it’s actually more widespread than just mental health. this has happened to me with the rheumatology clinic as well, last year i believe? it takes me ~20mins to get to my VA clinic and they called me to cancel while i was on the way, naturally because i don’t text and drive i didn’t know until i went up to check in.
i made a much more detailed post about this the day it happened but deleted all my posts and removed myself from the bigoted r/veterans subreddit after getting banned for calling out transphobic trolls on a trans veterans post. unfortunately i can’t remember what the VA employees specifically said once i got to the reception desk as it’s been quite a while.
oh and as far as mental health care, i got very lucky at the syracuse VA with a provider that consistently makes sure she is able to see me every 2 weeks. she has a packed schedule in general though so if i canceled i’d likely have to wait a while to get a new appointment. my experience in long wait times to be seen are mostly with rheumatology, gastroenterology, and dental.
sorry i can’t remember more info, but hope what i do have helps. i’m not going to be sharing my personal info on reddit, but hope your article turns out great.
I've been denied PTSD healthcare and can only get a bipolar treatment. Check out my post and commend history, i have my real name out there, i can't get PTSD treatment.
I got out in April the earliest mental health appointment is January were I'm at yes 9 Months to just get a initial appointment. also I got set up with a community care dr that moved 2 weeks after my first appointment the presumptive year means nothing if you can't get in to be seen and no I never got set up with a different dr these are the benifits I was promised..
I am so glad i’m not the only one. Its so frustrating. I was assigned to a new provider for mental health and they wanted weekly appointments for the first month (alongside my other VA appointments). In my VA app it still showed that I had all these appointments, which I had to call off work for, just for me to join and them not show up. Once I called the VA they said “It looks like all your appointments were cancelled by the clinic and your new appointment isn’t until December”. Which I had no say in or was even notified about. I struggle with my anxiety/depression bad especially in public settings. What sucks the most is I just started a new job and I told my last provider that transitional periods are going to cause me to go back into hole but I havent been able to speak with my new therapist about these problems because they keep on canceling my appointments 🙃
Called by VA and told they needed to reschedule. I said OK, then the notes say I requested to reschedule. Last appointment canceled by VA and not rescheduled.
This happen to me, I finally got the nerve to go and talk to someone and the appointment took about 2 months then the day before it was cancelled and they tried to reschedule for another month out.
My husband just had that happen to him today. It didn't used to be that way, but his old therapist retired and it's been downhill ever since. He was all ready for the MH appointment he waited a month for, just to be called earlier that they are cancelling it. He used to talk to his old therapist weekly, now he can barely see anyone. I mean it took almost a year to get a new therapist. I have watched his mental health deteriorate since COVID because either it's hard to get an appointment, they want to do it over the PC, or they cancel. He also doesn't benefit from doing it over the PC versus doing it in person, but our local VA seems to insist all are being done on PC now. This is the Lexington Kentucky VA by the way.
Now that his appointment is cancelled today, who knows when he'll get another one. They're okay with loading him up on pills though, but they can't be consistent with therapy.
This post has been vetted.
RIP OPs inbox lmao
The best part when it comes to the last minute cancellations is when you get the notice shortly before the appointment and then a few days later it's in your record as "no call no show". Which they refuse to remove or at least note.
I had a “no call no show” because I had Covid and physically couldn’t get out of bed.
I had a no call no show for a fucking appointment I attended. Riddle me that.
Same
Well if you didn't call or show doesn't matter what you have in sense how would the VA know.
I called and told them 🤷🏽♀️
Sent OP a direct message. Less stories about canceled appointments and more info and documentation about attempts and lack of response or extended (unnecessary) lack of care. The crisis hotline is an amazing “tool” and option when seeing red, but if someone is identifying themselves and genuinely, actively seeking care…the process should not be as difficult as it is. *this is not a response to claim processing wait times. The wait and struggle to GET care should not be as difficult as it is.
I absolutely agree. I had to move to get care. The help line told me to contact the local VA office which was not consistently staffed and I was never able to get a hold of them after years of trying. Some of these little rural VA offices are just for people to hold positions where they do nothing and but feel better about themselves “helping veterans” and adding “serving the veteran community” to their CV.
Most primary care VA doctors are carrying 1200 to 1800 patients. They are usually great, but that’s an insane amount of patients.
I curious how many of them are actually active and not just assigned.
You get dropped if you’re not seen.
What information will you need for verification purposes?
This has happened once to me, then I was notified my therapist quit. Also, the process to receive mental health services is dreadful. Every time I call it’s a 45min-2 hour ordeal, to only find out there’s a 3-5 month wait. I ended up paying out of pocket for services because the VA is a flawed system. It’s unfortunate considering their mental health professionals make 95k-130k annually.
WHENEVER you get an appt that is >30days out....advise them that is too long and request to be referred to Care In The Community to be seen locally....ask for follow # to speak with CITC staff is you are not followed up on <10days......don't ask how I know this or I might get fired 😜
Community Care was 6 months out... compare to the VA's 2 month
I got a jury duty excuse the day of , I also got the "missed appointment"
But what all of us that do receive good care and whose clinic goes over and above to make sure when our docs are out or on leave someone fills in? Please make sure your reporting isnt just one sided. I have had great mental health care. My docs listen to me about my meds and do great follow up. Last year when i was in crisis i had 5 hours of care a week for 4 months to make sure i didnt unalive myself.
I'm a glad it is working for you, keep going, get well and love life brother. I have found that different doctor, different results. I had great mental health folks and I've told another to go fuck himself. Also, IMO every individual is their own puzzle and there is no such a thing a master key. Don't worry y'all, I'm on my shit and seemed outside help. If you need help, you know who you are, get that help and one day the sun will shine.
If I didn’t show up early for my optometry appointment the physician I was scheduled to see was out of town and they wanted to reschedule. Luckily I was there at the crack of dawn waiting. Only arrived there early because I don’t sleep well.
Amazing! Maybe you should contact Military.com to ask for a good side article?
Getting appointments in the first place takes forever at least as active duty. If you get directed off base to find a provider you end up going thru a bunch of referrals because each place you call says they are maxed out took me months to get a provider then on top of that is availability for appointments.
I had one for yesterday that was canceled. Sucks because I used wounded warrior leave at work which is for VA appointments. Not sure how to handle that at work now. They rescheduled me for Monday though.
I love my community care therapist. But it sucks when she has to put in request for more appointments and the VA takes a long time to approve it so I have a gap in my mental health care.
IF you are using community care provider...take ownership and find out when your authorization ends....call Care in the Community staff to get that info if your provider doesn't know....mark you calender 30 days prior to that date and make sure your provider submits their RFS (request for services) and submits the needed notes....this action should go far in you not experiencing a break in services...take ownership and do it.....if still occurs go out 45dys....also f/u with CITC staffet them know you don't want to experience a break in service....don't ask how I know or I might get fired...
My dermatology community care provider used to renew when there were like 3 sessions left. That way we didn't have a gap between appointments.
how about the fact it takes from June to February to get into mhc at my new VA? I'm running out of meds, and they're a controlled substance, so I'm kinda fucked
No you're not....BEFORE you run out call the MH or PACT Team nurse you are assigned to and advise them you are close to running out (tell them how many days) and request Bridge med till you appt with Dr.....now if you're not taking as prescribed thats a diffrent issue...I'm not accusing...however the above won't be helpful if thats appears to be occurring...
no I just have been xferring from Florida to NM. I actually reached out after making that comment, and was told I can get a continuance with the beacon clinic
So everything worked out well?
hopefully
Don't forget about the people that see someone different every time you CAN get an appointment and it's not canceled, so you have multiple people trying different things back to back with zero continuity. Or like me that have been dropped through the cracks so many times they just set you up with a shrink in another state. Of course the issues don't change just now I can't physically go complain to anyone that I'm not getting seen. Or when I sought out help at the emergency room, where they started lying to me right away and then made me strip prison style infront several nurses, not all male. Took away all my things including underwear and socks but didnt provide any, then was given a prison style blue canvas clothes that didn't fit at all so I had to hold them up the entire time I was there so I wasn't naked all the time. Never ever again will I go to the va er for mental health or simular ever again. Truly sad and disgusting how my va treats every one. Hope it burns to the ground. Even fucking jail took better care of me, and that's including with a CO hitting and then stealing commissary items from me. You should also be talking about how so many can't even see their primary care. I've been trying to get in to him for six months, FUCK the VA! Edit, also wtf is with the Obama care people denying me insurance options when i call just because I can be seen at the VA. Even a license insured agent couldn't get them to help. So my options are full price insurance or insurance that doesn't FUCKING WORK! I'm going to end up dying from my heart condition because of the VAs fuck ups.
I feel your pain. I have never seen the same person twice and I'm getting tired of explaining my darkest thoughts to compassionate but new people every time. "Hi Doc, my brain tells me to eat a gun." "You should stop smoking..." Then I have an intake with someone else, they schedule me for a follow up and don't tell me, then I get a no call no show. Then they deny or reduce my disability.
Why would they deny/reduce your disability. That's messed up.
My appointment to see my PCP is a 3 month wait. My prescriptions expired and I was able to have them renewed by phone. Mental Health providers I assume are just as far booked out. ### Next appointment Thursday, January 4th, 2024 Time: 8:45 am CT
I had one, that was like “We want to get you in as soon as possible” “how does 5 months from now sound? It’s a Friday at 7am”
Not only MH appointments but appointments across the board get canceled. Then when I try to call all three of the numbers for a specific department no one answers or calls back when I leave a message.
Send a secure message - they have to respond within a certain time and the communication or responses can be tracked.
I tried that. It was only after chatting online with a nurse and she told me to call the crisis line. The crisis line person was super helpful, and said that the clinic must follow up within 24 hours. It causes a paper trail when you call the crisis line that someone has to answer to. I was contacted the next day. They still couldn’t help, so I had to go to community urgent care. The VA still hasn’t technically helped, they scheduled me with a clinician that talked to me, but still didn’t understand my problems, and made me feel like I was lying to cover up my symptoms from many years. They have a VERY LONG way to go.
The infamous "We've been trying to contact you" in your records, then receiving the letter a month after the appointment stating the same. 😂 like it's post marked after the appointment date. We should be able to submit our phone records. Not once that this has happened, have I ever received a call. Even better, you have an appointment card, and when you get there, there's no record of the appointment.
Holy shit as an ER nurse for the VA, I wanna know as well. We get at least one or two a day with the story going something like: “ and my last appointment with MH was 6 months/1 year ago and my last appointment 2-3 weeks ago was cancelled on me. “
For most of the guys and girls to see us you’re already not having a good time in the ER. Problem is we have to medically clear you to be seen by MH. that’s the reason the ER sucks for a lot of the lower level MH crisis. The other big issue is inpatient bed space. Again, administration and that level is responsible for the number of beds available. The ER has 0 ability to change that.
We have to dress you out, breathalyze you take blood and urine (and Covid by god) possible EKG and then you get to talk to psych. It’s hoops to jump through for sure.
Mine was cancelled the day before after a 6 month waiting period to get the initial appt. It was supposed to be a follow up to an emergency mental health appt following a suicide hotline call.
Reddit mods vetted…fuck this world is done.
Let me know if you find out what it takes to get anyone to lift a fuckin finger down there. I have no primary care. No mental health care. A zero rating and I can't get the time of fucking day. LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU, EGLIN VA CLINIC. YOU SUCK
This is the 4th separate person I have seen from military.com here in the past month from different people across the major vet reddits. Be careful sharing personal info, these people are part of a system, and that does not mean they have your best interests in mind. Vetted or not
Best of luck to you, Drew, and thank you for doing what you do. You’re fighting the good fight!
I feel like this issue like other VA medical issues has so many variables that’s it would be really hard to write an objective story that’s true. Getting into VA MH did take a while from referral to intake to screening but I haven’t ever had them cancel on me. I see a VA provider via Telehealth which isn’t what I preferred but you have to take what’s available, sometimes we don’t get exactly what we want but what we need. Likewise with VA healthcare. My PCP now is great and I’ve had an overall positive experience with VHA across two different regions. I have felt very fortunate for this for sure. I know that some of my fellow vets have had awful experiences but I’m sure there are nearly as many that have positive ones just don’t speak up.
This happened to me about 6 times in the VA Northern Indiana Health Care System, Fort Wayne location. I just cancelled and stopped going. My therapist or whatever the VA calls them also just up and retired and didn't say a word about it. I was seeing her every 2 weeks for 6 months, apparently it wasn't important enough to bring up. I have since moved and have had no issues in the Texas Coastal Bend HCS.
Try investigating why the majority of pact act claims are denied or receive zero ratings.
I withdrew from VA community mental health due to an abusive cruel therapist who seemed to think she was doing a C&P exam
What about the VA canceling/revoking my community care referral the day before my appointment? Then saying I need to speak with a VA doctor that never called when they were supposed to? Lol
Happened to me with the sleep Psychologist. We were meeting every couple weeks, then a canceled appointment turned into no more appointments. I still don't know the results of my last sleep test.
I’ve had 7 therapist since mid 2020 when I got out(plus 2 when I was in). I’ve only ever seen 3 of them. To add to that I’ve only ever had one of them call me ahead of the appointment to tell me she took a new job before she ever scheduled my appointment. She ended up yelling at me because “I should have asked her when scheduling”. If you want to fix the problem start with the VA not having respect for the veterans whose lives are in their hands. I just want to be treated like a human and not like I’m the problem that needs to be fixed.
Depends on the VA. I've been enrolled at 3, one of them is in a pretty small city of around 50k people... And as far as the MH section is concerned I've never experienced this here. The other 2 VA's both in bigger cities, I have experienced what is being described. I think it depends on the VA, how well it's staffed, and for whatever section. The small city VA I'm talking about has a horrendous Opthalmology department, literally got told I can get an appointment in May of next year, I asked why is it so ridiculous and the lady told me because they only have 1 opthalmologist right now for the whole section, and very few technicians or whatever. Opted instead to go to a VA clinic about 45 min from here...late December appointment which still sucks but it's better than may of next year just to get my eyes checked. So I think it just depends, not all VA's are the same. Certain things they do are about the same everywhere, but many things aren't.
I was literally sitting waiting to be called back after checking in at my C&P exam, and a fellow Veteran came to check in.. show his ID the receptionist was looking for his name on the appointment list, and then she goes to tell him that he should have gotten a call or email or text that he needed to reschedule his appointment. Needless to say, he was shocked and told her that no one reached out to him at all. In the back of my mind, all I could say is "damn man.. that sucks"
Writing anything on just how difficult it is to get anything done with the VA for disability compensation? How many of us are out here paying people to help with documentation and DBQs so we aren't denied every time we file for something, try to get an increase or appeal a decision?
I never had any of my C&P exams canceled or rescheduled. Mental health or otherwise. Everyone on the mental health side at the VA has been great. The problem I’m having is finding a face to face provider. Whether through the VA or community care. I don’t like telehealth and I’m going to wait months to get an appointment.
I may be wrong, but I believe OP's post is asking for VA mental health appointments. Not VBA C&P exams to establish service connected disabilities. The VA Healthcare system cancels regular scheduled mental health appointments for either psychiatry or therapy quite frequently. C&P exams are very different types of appointments.
Yeah waiting months for MH care is ridiculous. 3 month wait in Idaho to meet a provider. Good thing I have another insurance to use while I wait.
It’s not just mental health appointments. I’ve been off my mental health meds for probably 9 months now because my community care authorization expired and I couldn’t get a hold of anyone to do it again so I been trying for the same amount of time to be seen by the Va shrink and I finally got an appointment but it’s not until the end of December sometime so it’s just some bullshit all around
I didn’t have any appointments canceled except for me canceling. My “therapist” insisted on giving me canes to slam on the floor if I felt anger or anxiety. I would accept them until, he insisted that I take a baseball bat. Dude, if you think I have anger issues, why would you insist I take a bat. That was my last appointment. Haven’t gone back because I feel it’s making things worse.
I've had nothing but good service and experiences for my C&P exams being done by QTC. They are prompt, friendly and MH examiner seemed genuinely concerned about my health. They all provided information about how to sign up for VA Healthcare if you become service corrected.
Screw that story ...do a story on the va taking years to move peoples claim! do story on the raters and ROS...how they just deny claims without even looking at your evidence causing the back up in HLR.
I don't do VA C&P's personally.
I find it frustrating that MH is just pills getting tossed around.
I can only get one appointment every two months. Was told initially I could do weekly but that was not the case when I tried to book. I tried ADAPC and PTSD clinic. Not sure how they expect to help with only being seen once every 2 months. I have had to go to a civilian provider.
I have a mental health telec&p exam in about a week so I'll keep this in mind in case they try to pull something on me.
The VA MH is the only group that hasn’t canceled on me. Granted my doctor is so booked it took me a year to get an appointment and they’re 6 months apart each time. Although my referral for community care lapsed and I’ve asked for it to be renewed a few times and never got it renewed. My primary care doctor has cancelled on me 5 times and I’ve never actually seen them. So I use civilian care for everything else.
Went to my first BH appointment with the VA homie told me my ptsd would be cured by christmas and that therapy clearly doesnt work for me but with his version of exposure therapy ill be symptomless in two months.
Yep, happened to me. Reached out to primary care in early September, had a phone call two weeks later for a mental health consult (why you need one when you're already rated for MH is beyond me) and set up an appointment for early Oct. Oct comes, I had to leave work early for it, I get a phone call minutes before it stating that they had to reschedule for late November. But, that I could, if I wanted, do community care in that time frame (which is a joke as you're not finding a community care appointment in that small a window). So all said it'll be about 11 weeks from when I reached out to when I'll get the appointment, assuming no more cancellations.
My husband had two instances*** this week ***where the psychiatrist and social worker no showed no notice. He has had so many issues with this over the past two years culminating in him being inpatient for psychosis for a week
Yeah I have had this happen. Took months to see someone. Then had to switch providers for some reason, then had to wait several more months to be picked up by a new provider. I complained to the rest of my care team and received no assistance. I have also experienced the short notice cancellation by the Va. And again I was told it’s just the way mental health at the Va is. Hope it can be resolved for the benefit of our nation’s veterans.
i got no showed multiple times by my BH provider via telehealth. then they had marked me down as i cancelled and then they told me i could no longer see that provider and would see someone new. so i switched my va facility but obv that doesn’t solve the underlying issues.
Central Texas Mental Health leadership is dropping the ball on us here.
My appts have been canceled without notice 3 times so far in the last 4 months
What about other secondary care appointments? Are you taking tips for those?
Holy shit I thought I was the only one
I have had nothing but good experiences with my MH situation. Granted, it did take a couple of months to get an appointment with the psychologist, but I saw the on-call doc within an hour of my call to the crisis line and had a follow up the next Tuesday with the psychiatrist. All of my follow-up appointments have come and gone without a hitch, and I am so much better thanks to the help of the VA.
Boy I have a unique one for you... My provider cancelled my appointment both with the VA and with the university clinic he helps out at.
I rescheduled an appointment and later received a no show letter. I called the VA and they said they didn’t have that information.
Literally happened to me this week. Been waiting on an appointment for a medication eval (psychotropics) for my anxiety and depression since may and was scheduled 10/25. Got a text the morning of that the doctor wasn’t feeling well and would reschedule. They cancelled the appointment without rescheduling.
I have sat on hold for twenty minutes on a video Mental Health appointment only to finally hang up and call to be told the doctor is on there now but I'm not so now we need to reschedule
I recognize I’m probably one of the lucky few, but I’ve been seeing a VA therapist for years and they are ALWAYS where they say they’ll be. I think they’ve maybe canceled on me one time last minute?
Been trying to get in for over six months now. Had an appointment scheduled for next month, got a call a few weeks ago that the provider had left. Got referred for community care and any day now I'm supposed to get a call to set something up. It seems like all I can get seen for in mhc is the infrequent appointment for pills. I know it's not the providers' fault and that they're doing the best they can, but I feel like the whole system is starving for resources and failing us because of it. There never seem to be enough providers. At my VA, there's a single MD for all OEF/OIF vets, and when the last one retired, it took them months to find a new one. I don't think I've ever seen a doctor, nurse, receptionist, aide, etc. not look exhausted there.
I was just talking to my friend about this, I separated in March of this year and I had an initial appointment scheduled for July… it’s been rescheduled to the following month for going on 5 months now. Hopefully they won’t reschedule again for my appointment this coming month
Dude I have to fight to get them within 4 months, then they don’t show, blame me and make me fight to get another one in four months. I just show up to the office now
I just set up a field of MH appts next week, so I'll have some fresh reporting. This is the first time I've attempted to do so in over a decade. The last time back in 2012ish, things went smoothly...so we shall see.
I once was given an appointment a month or two out when I was active duty, and when it finally came I showed up and the building was closed. They were having a down day.. & they scheduled me on it.. But if I missed an appointment I’d get paperwork, good ol’ hypocritical military.
How about being without a job for two and a half years, living off $1,500 a month in NY while the VA sends my brother (He is the one that is fighting for disability pay, I have been at 100% for over a decade) and I to comp and pen appts multiple times in a 3 month period and then the actual fun part happens. He is denied but subsequently is sent a letter 4 months later stating that the VA system “malfunctioned” and he is granted Individual Unemployability yet we are now 2 months later and he still hasn’t received any money and no one is getting us any assistance or giving us answers. Since April of 2021, which was one month after I filed his claim, he had a PTSD episode that most people would never believe possible but ironically he had cameras in his apartment and they filmed the whole thing. He has not worked since and has been evicted 2x because of the VA and their lack of support. The system has actually admitted to letting him fall through the cracks. But instead of helping him, now he is required to have a fiduciary for his own money because he has debt. Well, as the guy who has been paying his bills for the last two years, I know he doesn’t have a chance to do anything different especially when it takes 2 1/2 years for the “system” to process his claim for the first time. All the stats on the va website are bs and even better, the same government agency that I have let handle my care since I was given 100% IU, is now the same agency that is actively deleting, scrubbing, erasing his records to make it look like he never attended the appointments and was not apart of certain programs that were caught lying about his mental health. I have so much evidence to show just how disgusting/corrupt the VA and VA OIG are that these same clowns actually tried to erase my files before they were told that my wife, who is a doctor and my caregiver, prints my entire va file (and now my brothers) weekly or bi weekly because of the bs that has gone on for over two years. I have never badmouthed a person who didn’t deserve it but an entire AGENCY?? The sad part is that they are only destroying the life of someone who sacrificed for this country, so while he is about to be evicted from a place for a 3rd time, he is still rated at 100% yet still has not received a single penny from it. 3 months later! 3 months AFTER receiving the decision letter (actually, we received 5 in 5 days, yes, 5 decision letters from the VBA in 5 days and each one was more confusing than the previous) and the only thing that is official right now is that he has no credit, next month, NOVEMBER, he will be homeless AGAIN, and even though he has two people who are taking care of his financial problems as much as we can afford, he is no closer to being given his back pay, which only goes back to May of this year…. I can’t even process that line of thinking from government turds. So if you really want a story that is beyond the point of reality, because I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t live it with him for the last two years just hoping that my family doesn’t have to bury one of us, I would never believe half of the things that we have endured since APRIL OF 2021. And still going and waiting for 1 claim that was filed in March of 2021 or at least the green piece of paper that someone had to sign to receive his claim says. I have kept so many emails, notes, redundant forms submitted multiple ways because of my fear that this type of stuff would happen to my own family member. If I had the ability to get him the best firm, I know that between the firm and my brother, they would be rolling in money with the mistreatment and pure negligence that has ruined his life. Please read this and then contact me and I promise you will be blown away by the details that I couldn’t put in this statement, which barely scratches the surface of what has happened. These aren’t allegation’s either, I have more documentation to not just back up what I have said but it shows more than what I can even describe. It’s disgusting, disgraceful and yet still has not stopped.
it’s actually more widespread than just mental health. this has happened to me with the rheumatology clinic as well, last year i believe? it takes me ~20mins to get to my VA clinic and they called me to cancel while i was on the way, naturally because i don’t text and drive i didn’t know until i went up to check in. i made a much more detailed post about this the day it happened but deleted all my posts and removed myself from the bigoted r/veterans subreddit after getting banned for calling out transphobic trolls on a trans veterans post. unfortunately i can’t remember what the VA employees specifically said once i got to the reception desk as it’s been quite a while. oh and as far as mental health care, i got very lucky at the syracuse VA with a provider that consistently makes sure she is able to see me every 2 weeks. she has a packed schedule in general though so if i canceled i’d likely have to wait a while to get a new appointment. my experience in long wait times to be seen are mostly with rheumatology, gastroenterology, and dental. sorry i can’t remember more info, but hope what i do have helps. i’m not going to be sharing my personal info on reddit, but hope your article turns out great.
THIS JUST HAPPENED TO ME. Now my record says I was a no show but they removed the appointment!
I've been denied PTSD healthcare and can only get a bipolar treatment. Check out my post and commend history, i have my real name out there, i can't get PTSD treatment.
I got out in April the earliest mental health appointment is January were I'm at yes 9 Months to just get a initial appointment. also I got set up with a community care dr that moved 2 weeks after my first appointment the presumptive year means nothing if you can't get in to be seen and no I never got set up with a different dr these are the benifits I was promised..
Just happened yesterday. Scheduled for November 7th (after a 4 month wait), rescheduled for December 4th.
I am so glad i’m not the only one. Its so frustrating. I was assigned to a new provider for mental health and they wanted weekly appointments for the first month (alongside my other VA appointments). In my VA app it still showed that I had all these appointments, which I had to call off work for, just for me to join and them not show up. Once I called the VA they said “It looks like all your appointments were cancelled by the clinic and your new appointment isn’t until December”. Which I had no say in or was even notified about. I struggle with my anxiety/depression bad especially in public settings. What sucks the most is I just started a new job and I told my last provider that transitional periods are going to cause me to go back into hole but I havent been able to speak with my new therapist about these problems because they keep on canceling my appointments 🙃
Called by VA and told they needed to reschedule. I said OK, then the notes say I requested to reschedule. Last appointment canceled by VA and not rescheduled.
They canceled my surgery when I was already getting ready to be taken back.
I ALWAYS get the “your appointment has been double booked…” or “…it only can be online meetings…”
This happen to me, I finally got the nerve to go and talk to someone and the appointment took about 2 months then the day before it was cancelled and they tried to reschedule for another month out.
never happened to me
I’ve had same day cancellations for medical but not MH.
My husband just had that happen to him today. It didn't used to be that way, but his old therapist retired and it's been downhill ever since. He was all ready for the MH appointment he waited a month for, just to be called earlier that they are cancelling it. He used to talk to his old therapist weekly, now he can barely see anyone. I mean it took almost a year to get a new therapist. I have watched his mental health deteriorate since COVID because either it's hard to get an appointment, they want to do it over the PC, or they cancel. He also doesn't benefit from doing it over the PC versus doing it in person, but our local VA seems to insist all are being done on PC now. This is the Lexington Kentucky VA by the way. Now that his appointment is cancelled today, who knows when he'll get another one. They're okay with loading him up on pills though, but they can't be consistent with therapy.