More VA silliness . . .
I've posted several times about the crazy things I've encountered when going to the VA for healthcare.
Here's another one.
The medical condition ("bamboo spine") I'm trying to find out for sure if I have causes it to become "not advisable" for a person to get chiropractic adjustments, due to an extreme risk of actually causing a broken back from the attempt to adjust it. So, when I mentioned my symptoms and family history to my chiropractor, she asked to see the x-rays (or at least a complete report on them) that the VA took back in January, so she could determine the risk of continuing adjustments.
When I got home, I logged onto the VA's healthcare website. Because I am trying to loose weight, I had already done the in-person authentication that is mandatory to use their proprietary "secure messaging" system, which is like e-mail but only allows communication between myself and my VA healthcare providers.
Let me make sure you actually get this: it is VA's healthcare website. It is VA's proprietary "secure messaging" system. Nobody can use it who hasn't been authenticated through a live, in-person contact, complete with the "secure messaging" account EXACTLY matching the information on the veteran's ID card. This was the means I used to ask my primary care doctor to fax a full report on the x-rays to the chiropractor.
The reply from the primary care doctor's secretary? "A signature is required on all 'release of information' requests. I'm mailing a Release of Information form to you for your signature, along with a return envelope."
I fail to see how that does anything except delay the release, considering that there is no way anyone would WANT to pretend to be me, to get this report sent to a chiropractor who isn't treating me. Let alone go through all the trouble of hacking my VA healthcare secure message account to send in the request for it. The extremes of probability boggle the imagination.
Here's another one.
The medical condition ("bamboo spine") I'm trying to find out for sure if I have causes it to become "not advisable" for a person to get chiropractic adjustments, due to an extreme risk of actually causing a broken back from the attempt to adjust it. So, when I mentioned my symptoms and family history to my chiropractor, she asked to see the x-rays (or at least a complete report on them) that the VA took back in January, so she could determine the risk of continuing adjustments.
When I got home, I logged onto the VA's healthcare website. Because I am trying to loose weight, I had already done the in-person authentication that is mandatory to use their proprietary "secure messaging" system, which is like e-mail but only allows communication between myself and my VA healthcare providers.
Let me make sure you actually get this: it is VA's healthcare website. It is VA's proprietary "secure messaging" system. Nobody can use it who hasn't been authenticated through a live, in-person contact, complete with the "secure messaging" account EXACTLY matching the information on the veteran's ID card. This was the means I used to ask my primary care doctor to fax a full report on the x-rays to the chiropractor.
The reply from the primary care doctor's secretary? "A signature is required on all 'release of information' requests. I'm mailing a Release of Information form to you for your signature, along with a return envelope."
I fail to see how that does anything except delay the release, considering that there is no way anyone would WANT to pretend to be me, to get this report sent to a chiropractor who isn't treating me. Let alone go through all the trouble of hacking my VA healthcare secure message account to send in the request for it. The extremes of probability boggle the imagination.