Cheyenne VA Medical Center Update

News & Announcements

Dear Veterans and family members, 

Before I forget, Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!

After last weeks letter, I had a number of individuals reach out and request information on various topics.  I greatly appreciate the feedback, and will try to hit many of the topics!  I do want to bring your attention to our Cheyenne VA Website and Facebook pages.  These are great resources as well.  As always, if something isn't addressed, please email me at samuel.house2@va.gov.

Moving Forward Together 

The safety of patients and employees continues to be our top priority during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are working on a plan to expand services at our medical center and clinics across the region. Our efforts will align with federal, state and local guidance to support a safety culture that includes following physical distancing, and environmental cleaning recommendations outlined by the CDC. We will continue screening staff for signs of COVID-19 infection and that they have been cleared to work. To continue our services, we are maximizing personalized telehealth options, phone consults and wellness checks, as we know these services have been a valuable link to our Veterans during this challenging time.

What's Open / What's Not

The Cheyenne VA Medical Center, Fort Collins and Loveland clinics are open for scheduled appointments; however, we are not currently seeing any patients without a scheduled appointment.  We currently do not have staff physically available at the Laramie, Sterling, Torrington, and Wheatland Clinics. 

VA Video Connect and the telephone are our primary method to schedule our Veterans.  Please click here to discover how to see your provider from the comfort of your home.  Face-to-face care will be prioritized for procedures and related care that can’t be accomplished via telehealth. During this time, if you need to see your primary care provider, please call or message (through MyHealtheVet) your Primary Care Team.  Also, our Emergency Department is open 24/7.

Blood Donation

VA hospitals across the nation are encouraging everyone who can give blood, to give.  Unfortunately, the Cheyenne VA can not draw blood for inclusion in the national blood supply; however, we work closely with most blood collection agencies throughout the region.  We encourage all Veterans and their family members to give blood at their local blood bank.  Wherever you decide to give, just simply call to schedule an appointment, and let them know the Cheyenne VA sent you.

Prescription Information

Tired of the wait for your prescription medication? Refills for medications can be requested in multiple ways:

• Sign the refill slip on your medications and mail back
• Automated refill line
• Drop off refill slips in the box outside pharmacy in the box outside the front of the VA.
• Use MyHealthlyVet – and the Rx-Refill Mobile App (now available for both IOS and Android).  Requesting refills and tracking you medications has never been easier with the Rx-Refill App! 
• Ask your community provider to send a fax to the CHY VA pharmacy faxing the prescriptions to 307-778-7588.

Needing a refill on your prescription? Don’t wait until you’re out! Your next refill can be requested as soon as you have receive your current prescription. Receive your prescription today and request your next fill now! 

Veterans seeking reimbursement for any out-of-pocket prescription expenses following a URGENT CARE visit, should print this form. The reimbursement form, along with the prescription and receipt must be mailed to the Cheyenne VA Medical Center, c/o Community Care, 2360 E. Pershing Blvd., Cheyenne, WY 82001

Hydroxychloroquine

Hydroxychloroquine has been a buzz word in this pandemic. The question is why would we or why shouldn’t we prescribe it? The use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 is an off-label use as this is a new virus and studies are ongoing. It’s use is limited to those with COVID-19 who are hospitalized with severe disease OR hospitalized with at least two high risk criteria (age, CVD, chronic pulmonary disease, DM, immunosuppression). It’s use is limited due to the risks associated with it (cardiovascular, neurological, hypersensitivity reactions, GI side effects, etc), lack of substantial/validated evidence for benefit and its availability. The long-story short is that it takes time to determine safe/effective treatments for new viruses/illnesses and we are still studying hydroxychloroquine to determine if benefit outweighs risk. So stay tuned for more guidance in the future!

Urgent Care

Mission Act can get you into an urgent care in your neighborhood, but please call 1-833-483-8669 to verify your eligibility. Click here to find an Urgent Care in the VA Network. If you encounter challenges at the urgent care visit or urgent care pharmacy, call 1-866-620-2071.  Please be sure to print off this form and take it with you.

If you receive a prescription from your Mission Act - Urgent Care visit, please ask them to send the prescription to the Cheyenne VA Pharmacy! Your Safety is our number one priority. By filling all your prescriptions at the same pharmacy, your VA Pharmacist can check to ensure there are no drug interactions with the other medications you currently receive from your VA Pharmacy preventing issues before they occur. Please see instructions above, if you would like reimbursed for out-of-pocket prescriptions.

Dental Care

How does a Veteran get dental care through the VA?  This is probably the most asked question, and the answer can leave Veterans angry.  Please trust me when I tell you that our dentists would love to assist more Veterans, but we are bound by the rules set by Congress. So what are the rules?  This link is a great resource that explains Dental Benefits for Veterans.

Veterans that are not eligible for dental care may obtain dental care through the VA Dental Insurance Program (VADIP).  The program offers eligible individuals the opportunity to purchase discounted dental insurance coverage through Delta Dental or MetLife, that includes diagnostic services, preventive services, endodontic and other restorative services, surgical services and emergency services.  For more information, please click here.

Community Care

Are you interested in seeking care in the community? It all starts with your Primary Care Provider. They will initiate the request for care in the community for your health care services. If the care is approved, your authorization will not be activated until the VA receives confirmation of a scheduled appointment from either you or your community provider.

If you attend a Community Care appointment before your authorization is activated, you may be responsible for costs associated with that care.

Has your community care been approved and authorized? If you received authorization to receive a medical appointment for "care in the community" you will be notified by an appointment letter from TriWest. That letter contains information about your referral, including the valid dates and the category of care. Please read the letter in its entirety. If you have not received an appointment letter from TriWest then you may not have a valid authorization. Your community provider can contact TriWest to find out if a specific procedure is covered by your referral. Although your referral may cover many services, you do not need to obtain them all in the community. The VA may be able to provide the services. Contact your primary care team for more information. If your authorization has expired, or is about to expire, contact your primary care team to explore the next steps in your care.

We encourage you to contact your community provider before your first appointment. Ask them for any information you may need to know to prepare for your appointment.

By choosing to have your care in the community, it’s important to be involved in your health care! For example:

• Please remember to not "block" any calls from the VA or TriWest,
• Check your voice mail or missed calls for the care in the community you requested
• Follow the authorization times
• Knowing what services you are authorized for in the community
• Notify your primary care team on changes to your health condition
• Attending your appointments, obtaining your medical records, and coordinating your follow-up care.

Billing Issues

The Cheyenne VA Community Care office does not have the ability to pay bills for community services. For a bill you received for an emergency room visit, please call "The Payment Operations and Management Center" at 877-881-7618. If you get a bill for any other community services, please call TriWest at 855-722-2838. If you need additional help with billing, please call the Cheyenne VA Veteran Experience Liaisons at 307-778-7550, then press 0, then press 1

To prevent receiving a bill for an appointment in the community:

• Only attend appointments with community providers that were approved in your TriWest authorization
• If you have a copay with the VA, the VA will bill your for your copay in the community. Please do not pay a copay to the provider. If you get a bill, call or come see your Patient experience liaison.
• Verify you are receiving a bill and not an explanation of benefits.
• Ensure you’re not scheduling an appointment with a community provider before your approved time frames. Authorization for approved community care will be sent to your address on record.
• If during your community appointment you are asked to provide other health insurance, you are not required to. Your other health insurance will be asked to pay a portion of your community care if you are seeing your community providers for non-authorized services. Approved services are also written in your authorization.

When in doubt, you should always bring your authorization to every community appointment and verify with the providers staff at check in! If you received a bill for any other community services please call TriWest at 855-722-2838. 

Community Care Scheduling

Beginning May 11, 2020, the Cheyenne Community Care Office will be implementing a new scheduling process.  Veterans referred to Community Care will be asked to coordinate the scheduling of their community appointments.  Community Care will provide Veterans with all the necessary information, tools, and support that they need to receive their care.

Please note: there are no changes to the Community Care eligibility and authorization requirements.  Veterans must have a community care consult and an active authorization in order for the VA to reimburse the community provider. 

This new process will allow the Community Care staff to serve a greater number of Veterans in a more timely manner.  If you have questions or concerns, please call our community care office 307-778-7550 ext. 7302 during business hours.

Compensation and Pension

Compensation and Pension (C&P) is continuing to work cases in conjunction with the Veterans Benefits Administration and are receiving cases that can be done by phone or by VA Video Connect. If your claim cannot be done by either of those methods (mostly orthopedic type cases) you will be contacted for a face to face exam when we can restart office hours on station.

Benefits Letter and other eBenefits

The second most asked question I receive is, "How do I get my Benefits letter for my license plates?"  While there might be a lot of reasons you want access to your benefits letters, lately this has been the most prevalent.  No worries--we are going to walk you through this!  But before we get into that, it is important to know that you can do a lot more through the eBenefits site. From the eBenefits site you are able to Apply for Benefits, Manage your Benefits, and Manage your Health by automatically logging you into your MyHealtheVet premium account, and so much more.

1. Click this link or copy & paste this address into your web browser: https://www.ebenefits.va.gov
2. Click on "Log in" in the upper right corner
3. Read the eBenefits Consent to Monitor, and check the box to consent.
4. Scroll all the way down, and click on "Need An Account?"
5. Read the DS LOGON Registration Procedures, and click the second bubble next to "I am one of the following:" and then click on "Continue".
6. The next screen will be your name, birth date, and by "Person Identifier", click the little down arrow, and change the box to Social Security Number, enter your SSN, and click continue.  Note: If you already have an account, it will tell you what your User ID is--WRITE IT DOWN.  If you do not know your password, click "forgot password".
7. The next parts are VERY IMPORTANT--Please write down and memorize all your answers for:
   • User ID
   • Password
   • Password Hint Questions
   • and, Description of the "Security Image" you will choose to ID yourself
8. Click "save" 

You should be ready to log-in.  Once logged in, you can navigate to "Your VA Letters", and click on the "Letter Generator" link.  From there you can choose the type of letter you want and what you want included in your letter.  You can print or download the signed letter.

Premium Upgrade MyHealtheVet account with ID.me

Access to MyHealtheVet is available in this brochure, and is nearly identical to the steps in eBenefits, in fact, from eBenefits you can get direct access to MyHealtheVet. You no longer need to come in to the facility in-person for a Premium account. To get a Premium account from home, there is one simple step:

1. Click on the link or copy and paste into your browser: https://www.myhealth.va.gov 
2. Click "Sign in" in upper right.
3. Scroll to the bottom left side, and click on Sign in with ID.me

Follow the instructions, and you should be given access to your Premium resources.

If you have any questions on this, please call Glen Massman at 307-778-7550 ext. 7119, or email him at glen.massman@va.gov

Cheyenne National Cemetery

National Cemetery Administration Continental District Chief of Operations, Sara Elton, stated, “We’re moving along smartly with our planned construction milestone: installation of pre-placed crypts is complete, signage is being developed, and we continue to work on the Columbarium and Memorial Wall. We’re honored to bring NCA benefits to our Veterans and families in Wyoming and beyond. Construction is on track to finish in the fall.”

F.E. Warren AFB Base Access

Retiree base access is limited to medical and shopping at the Commissary and Exchange during the set hours of Tuesdays and Thursdays 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and VA card holder access is limited to shopping at the Commissary and Exchange during the set hours of Tuesdays and Thursdays 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Currently only Active duty members, DoD civilians, dependents, and mission essential personnel have full access, and Gate 2 is the only entry point.

Essential visitor access will only be granted using extended pass procedures through unit leadership and the Pass & ID office. E.g.: family members staying on base to assist in child/family care, medical visits for family support, etc.

All individuals on F. E. Warren must wear a face covering/mask when they are unable to maintain 6 feet of physical distance from others in public settings. Access to BX, Commissary, Shoppette and other facilities will not be permitted to personnel not wearing a mask.

Curbside pick up from BX facilities can be coordinated from shopmyexchange.com.

Addendum

Last week I included a section about the availability of Antibody testing through the VA.  It is currently true that the VA has not yet authorized this testing and will not pay for the testing; however, it was brought to my attention from one of our Veterans who is also a Medical Doctor that there are options available.  He writes:

"Within the last couple weeks, testing for IgG and IgM antibodies to COVID-19 has become widely available in Colorado.  I just participated in a virtual town hall meeting sponsored by the Colorado Medical Society on the topic this past Wednesday.  A lot of different companies have developed them, and NONE are FDA-approved, strictly speaking, just allowed to market under the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization.  A positive test indicates likely exposure; they are not useful in diagnosing acute infection or whether the patient is contagious.  They also don’t confirm immunity.  Yet.  We all hope that’s coming.  National Jewish came up with their own test and began making it available a week ago to the general public, without a physician referral, though you do have to make an appointment through their website.  Having it ordered by a doc evidently increases the likelihood that insurance will cover it; otherwise, it’s $94 in advance." --Thank you Doctor!

 

• MHV Trifold with POC Info.pdf