VVA Chapter PI 887

Allen “Pop” Reeves American Legion Post 123
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MANILA VA OUTPATIENT CLINIC

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS

March 14, 2022

A PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE CLINIC MANAGER

I wanted to take a quick moment to share some information with the Veteran community in the Philippines. There have been a significant number of rumors circulating on social media pages in the last few days about the future of the VA Manila Outpatient Clinic. As a result of these rumors, the Clinic has received several emails and secure messages from anxious and concerned Veterans who believe the end of VA services in the Philippines is imminent. Let me say up front – the rumors on this topic are false. There is no plan to close the VA Manila Outpatient Clinic. I will repeat that – there is no plan to close the VA Manila Outpatient Clinic.

Some Veterans have seen news reports from media outlets about something called the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission, and that VA will be making recommendations to potentially close some VA facilities.  This is true and those recommendations will be released on Monday, March 14th in the United States. VA Manila was not considered as part of the overall AIR review that VA completed in developing its recommendations for the AIR Commission. This is because of our unique designation as VA’s only overseas facility. VA Manila is not one of these facilities that will be recommended for closure.

You may be wondering, what is the AIR Commission? The AIR Commission was mandated by Congress in the 2018 MISSION Act, which directed VA to conduct a review of its current facilities and how VA is currently serving Veterans. I’ve attached a Fact Sheet about the AIR Commission, its purposes, and goals. The recommendations VA will make to the AIR Commission later today will be reviewed and studied over the coming months, and a series of public hearings will be held. Any final decision about the future of facilities included in the VA’s recommendation to the AIR Commission are likely several years away.

If you’d like to review VA’s recommendations to the AIR Commission, you’ll be able to find them online, Monday evening in the Philippines, at https://www.va.gov/aircommissionreport. They will be posted at 8:00PM tonight, Manila time.   I encourage you to read them for yourself, but you can rest easy knowing there will be no recommendation in that report for closing VA Manila. I also read remarks this weekend that VA Secretary Denis McDonough recently gave on March 10th, that I thought gave a very good overview of this process and how it will impact Veterans. A link to those remarks is available here if you’re interested: https://www.va.gov/opa/speeches/2022/3_10_2022.asp.

I am glad we have VA services for Veterans in the Philippines. I am fortunate see firsthand the outstanding services that my staff provide to you, and I often hear it directly from you how much VA means to you. Our partnership as your health care provider is strong, and I work every day to keep it that way.

As always, please reach out to me directly if you have future questions or concerns. My email and phone number are at the bottom of this message.

UPCOMING MYHEALTHEVET SIGN-IN CHANGES

VA Manila is one of the leaders across all of VA in our utilization and deployment of MyHealtheVet (MHV) Secure Messaging (SM). I know very well that SM and MHV serve as an important link between many of our Veterans in the Philippines, and your physicians, care teams, the pharmacy, and medical records. Because of this, I wanted to make sure that all Veterans are aware of upcoming changes to the MHV log-in system. These changes will require VA users of MHV to sign in with an updated log-in validated by one of several partners, with the primary goal of helping to keep Veteran’s electronic information as secure as possible. All Veterans will be required to update their log-in information by March 21, 2022, so that’s just 1 week away.

Please review the attached Fact Sheet about Changes to the MHV sign-in process. This change is mandated to help VA comply with government requirements securing Federal government computer networks. You can also review the following website for additional information: https://www.myhealth.va.gov/mhv…/one-place-to-sign-in. Please take a minute to review this information and make note of any changes to your sign-in process. We want to ensure that come March 22, you can still access your VA team, request medication refills, and view medical history just like you can today. And if you are one of our last Veterans who doesn’t yet have a MHV account, please ask us to sign up the next time you visit the OPC for an appointment.

If you have questions or issues setting up the new log-in, VA Manila has set up ways that you can contact the MHV telephone numbers assisting Veterans with these changes through the VA Manila Outpatient Clinic phone system – which will help to save the cost of international dialing. VA Manila staff are limited in the assistance we can provide since this is a national, VA-wide roll out. Please use the following POCs with any questions about the new MHV Log-Ins.

My VA 4-1-1

Hours:  24/7/365 (always open/available)

Phone: +1-800-698-2411 (US Dial / Google/VOIP)

              +63 (02) 8550-3888 ext. 3420 (PH Local Dial)

              #MyVA, ext. 3420 (PH Toll Free)

My HealtheVet Help Desk

Hours:  7A – 7 P Monday to Friday (Central Time)

             8P – 8A Monday PM to Saturday AM (Manila Time)

Phone: +1-877-327-0022 (US Dial / Google / VOIP)

              +63 (02) 8550-3888 ext. 3410 (PH Local Dial)

              #MyVA, ext. 3410 (PH Toll Free)

Daniel  Gutkoski, MHA
Clinic Manager
VA Manila Outpatient Clinic
US Embassy to the Philippines, Seafront Compound
1501 Roxas Boulevard, 1302 Pasay City,
Metro Manila
+63 (02) 8396-3735 – Direct Dial #MyVA (#6982) – Toll Free