Heywood Hospital is in fact accepting veterans under VA care.
Maija Sumner wrote that her husband was under the care of Dr. Kalyan Kalava, a specialist contracted with Heywood Hospital. She was contacted and told she must find another physician because Heywood was no longer accepting VA patients.
“My spouse is a disabled veteran with a traumatic brain injury,” she wrote in a letter to The Gardner News. “The providers, which are contracted with the VA, can offer no relief or intervention for my spouse. It leaves veterans and their loved ones to do the legwork and research to find adequate care. In my spouse’s case, I do this for him as he is not able to advocate for himself. We have beat our heads against the wall to find a provider that will put forth the effort needed to come up with a plan that will help my spouse be able to maintain some sort of quality in his life.”
After doing research, the Sumners finally found a provider at Heywood but were contacted by the doctor’s office recently to inform them the care was no longer available.
“After constant pressure and fight, I was able to get the VA to agree to cover his procedures and care at Heywood. Today I received a call from Heywood notifying me that the hospital has decided to no longer accept the VA insurance within their institution. This is an absolute disgrace to those who have served their country and need care,” said Sumner. “How can we let our service members fall between the cracks further and further?”
Dawn M. Casavant, vice president of development and chief philanthropy officer at Heywood Healthcare, was surprised to hear that a patient had been given the information that Heywood Hospital is not accepting VA patients.
“We do take all the VA insurances,” she said.
Casavant clarified that Dr. Kalava is an independent physician who contracts his services to the hospital and is not employed with the hospital. She further explained that sometimes, when patient care is complicated, the VA will limit what is covered in other places, controlling the cost.
Casavant said that in 2017, Heywood Healthcare was excited to be providing for VA health care because so many veterans were forced to travel far to receive care. Heywood announced its partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs through the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act (VACAA) of 2014 provider agreement. The hospital called it a long-term solution to provide increased access to veterans in need of health care services while controlling costs.
Casavant advised that anyone associated with the VA receiving a call telling them they must seek a new provider should contact https://www.heywood.org/patients-and-visitors/patient-financial-services/patient-financial-services and receive help and advocacy in their search.
Casavant said that veterans in need of medical care should not have to go through seeking alternate care in the middle of treatment. She explained that the rules are different for the multiple insurances that are accepted at Heywood, and there are constant changes creating more paperwork and a need to constantly stay informed.
She said, “I think the devil is in the details, and we must figure out how the system could be tightened up so we don’t have veterans falling through the cracks. Know that the hospital is certainly sympathetic and would like to work to figure out how to strengthen the system. We don’t want any veterans falling through the cracks. We are here to serve our community.”
Calls to a representative of the VA who could speak to the press and to Dr. Kalava have not yet been returned to provide further insight into the changes happening at the VA and the reasons some doctors may not have been placed on the VA-approved list.
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