I got an update on my voice training today.
{Back Story} The VA Trans Care Coordinator submitted a request for the lessons. The request was approved and the Voice Coach at the Iowa City VA called and set up an appointment for my first visit. I was to go to my local VA Clinic and we would do a telemedicine appointment there.
About a week before my appointment, my Care Coordinator said my appointment had to be canceled due to "technical issues". She agreed to look into it and said if the issue could not be resolved, they would give me an iPad so I could do the lessons from home. Our VA Clinic here in Rapid City is brand new. Very modern looking with state-of-the-art technology. I assumed that some IT guy checked the router and ... no router. But such was not the case.
Two weeks went by and I asked my Care Coordinator if they had fixed the "technical issue" yet, and if it was going to take time (ordering parts or whatever), then they should set me up with the iPad and reschedule my appointment.
This morning the Care Coordinator told me that the reason they canceled the appointment was not due to telemedicine connection issues. The problem is that the VA in Rapid City does not have an "agreement" with Iowa City to provide care to me, since I am not a patient of Iowa City VA.
The paperwork has been submitted so that the VA can share my records with the VA and I can be treated by the VA.
Meanwhile, they cannot seem to figure out who is entering someone else's information into my records. Apparently, it is acceptable to reference (in my records) someone who has a different name and a different Medicare account number. Apparently, it is acceptable to allow someone to change my Primary VA Healthcare Facility to places I have never been to. However, when it comes to in-house VA care, they will not allow the VA to access my VA records without an agreement between the VA and the VA.
Fortunately, I have been in contact with our Privacy Officer whose job it is to ensure that medical data is kept confidential. He is quite concerned that I have someone else's data in my records and this is under investigation. I have since had my files marked as "Private" which does nothing to prevent information flowing one way or the other. It causes a log to be created that can trace any information changes so I can find out who requested it.
So other than that, my day is going great.
