Friday, September 2, 2011

Patient Advocates: The First Step To Resolve Complaints

Good morning!

There are a lot of reasons that someone may want to complain about the VA. Maybe an employee treated you rudely. Maybe a doctor did not fully listen to your problem. Maybe you feel like your treatment Is inadequate or you are frustrated with the processing time for a claim. This can be frustrating, because it can be hard to find someone who will take your complaints seriously.

Believe it or not, there is someone who will listen. Each VA medical center is staffed with a patient advocate who is responsible for listening to your complaints and mitigating the situation. These advocates are very nice people who genuinely do their best to serve the veterans who visit the VA.

From major complaints about physicians to minor complaints about your treatment at the travel pay window, the patient advocate exists to listen and help you have the best experience possible at the VA.

If you are going to visit the patient advocate with a complaint, it is always best to have as much information and detail as possible. For example, if an employee mistreats you, you should try to supply the patient advocate with the date, time and place of the incident, as well as the employee’s name and role. You should also describe the offense in detail.

Please share your experiences with the patient advocate in the comment fields below! Have you ever visited the patient advocate? Did you even know there was one?

Learn more about the Patient Advocate at http://www.patientadvocate.va.gov/index.asp

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