Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center — Local services in Aurora

Horrible!!! I keep getting the run around. It took awhile to get my disability approved by VS. In the meantime I sought medical care through my employer. I had been diagnosed with thyroid disease following a car wreck. Once VA was approved I immediately asked that they take over my endocrinology care. They drew one set of labs and told me I had no thyroid disease. They refused to take any other labs or even have the endocrinology dept see me. That was 8 years ago. Over the years my thyroid has flared up and i have tried hokistic medicine to help calm some symptoms. Now my symptoms have become even worse. In October I asked for new labs to be drawn. I was told those were normal. Nov 30 I asked my pcp to double checm. My labs were off the charts. Oh wait, no one called to tell me or evensent me a letter. I waitedand waited before i finally called and the nurse who read my labs told me my first set which was normal was just barely in the normal range and would have been cause for concern with my second set of labs. I was seen by pcp on Jan 5 where she said i had seen endocrinology as theynoted a consult in my records. I never saw endocrinology. Turns out they did their own consult between the endocrinologists and decided my labs weren't of concern so no need to see me. My entire bidy is paying the price right now. Last week I called absolutely fristrated over the lack of help i am getting. The nurse said i have a referral to endocrinology and i can set up an appt with them. I called to set up the appt with endocrinology and they said there is no referral, i have to go back to the pcp and have new labs drawn because the previous labs are too old (Oct and Nov 2017!!!). I called the nurse line at the pcp and sheread the notes that endocrinology rejected the referral and just wants new labs drawn. In the meantime, ihad a thyroid ultrasound done in January and wbile at that appt a VA employee was reading my notes and asked what meds i had been taking for my tbyroid since 2010 when it showed my levels off. WHAT??? I was told my thyroid was fine back then. She said my notes said otherwise. Are you kidding me? Same thing with dermatology. 2 years ago I had a mole scraped because it was itching and bleeding all the time. I received a call (the only time they have ever called me) and they left a msg to call back. When I called back another doctor read the results and said everything was fine. The next week I received a call from the doctor who actually scraped the mole and he said my results were abnormal and I needed to return for a removal of the entire mole. I actually had a mass under the skin. That day I was told Togo to dermatology every 6 months to have my skin assessed. They had a standing order. 5 months later I called and tried to set up and appt only to be told I had to go to my pcp for a referral. Seriously? Start all over again. Recently a nurse was reading my notes and said the standing 6 month dermatology appt is in my notes. VA needs to get it together. I served this country so you could have your freedom to go to medical school and be in your profession. I am not a lab work up. I am not just numbers on a screen. Ask my poor mom who took me to multiple doctors my whole life because I am not text book when it comes to my body. Give me Nyquil and I can party all night. Give me coffee and I go right to sleep. I am a human. I have symptoms that accompany those labs. VA is horrible at seeing patients. They want a quick, cheap fix so they can afford the new facility in Aurora and get their raises. I wonder what restrictions the staff has to treat their patients with such lack of care. I work in the medical field and I treat my patients so much better than VA would even think to treat theirs. VA needs to talk to their patients. You need to involve them in their care. Your organization is an insult to the people who served...

I have been going here since they opened this VA facility. Overall the hospital building itself is pretty nice and the staff members FOR SPECIALTY CARE ARE GREAT, But when it comes to primary care, they are absolutely terrible its like trying to get past a goalie to get sent out to any clinics. I begged for years to get my shoulder checked out and to get to a neurologist these requests were never listened to. I also requested routine blood work and was denied time and time again. The primary care has no clue who I am or what my problems are. I was finally sent to community care for a primary care physician and got much better service and the doctor requested physical therapy, orthopedics, neurology and much more, however the VA takes 2-6 months to process the request from the community care doctors that they appoint if the VA approves the treatments and even after the VA approves they do not always fulfill the consult and send me to the proper clinics. After decades of going to the VA I have finally gotten private insurance so I can get seen for what the VA will not do in a timely manner. There are some good things about the VA, for example I have mental health consults referred out to the community to a company called Sondermind and I can see them as often as I like and change providers as needed within their company and the VA always pays no questions asked. I also get community care for Dental work and I was able to pick my own dentist and finally after years gotten my teeth fixed. The community care system is getting better in some areas. Overall the VA has improved that is why I am giving it 2 stars instead of one. Years ago it was much worse than it is today. I would recommend having private insurance along with the VA healthcare. If you cannot get timely service within 21 days for primary care you can request community care Primary Care Physicians, specialty care clinics are 28 days and you can request community care. They may argue with you but just reference the "Mission ACT" if they give you trouble. Typically it will get things going faster sometimes you still hit snags like I have. In that case you can use your private insurance or self pay then fill out VA form 10-583 "CLAIM FOR PAYMENT OF COST OF UNAUTHORIZED MEDICAL SERVICES" The VA will reimburse you for unauthorized medical services. For example I have been waiting for 4 months to get my shoulder fixed by a surgeon and they have not seen me at the VA in all that time. I also have asked for 2 years for specialized neurology testing and they still have not provided that. I will pay for it with my private insurance and then charge the VA for the portion I pay. Also utilize the patient advocate by email I have had to email them multiple times on services and sometimes I have to email multiple times to get a single situation fixed sometimes they will have a person from the depart you are having trouble with reach out to you and that may not fix the problem and you may have to complain again if you do this enough times it will get you to the head of the department you are having trouble with and that person is usually very reasonable. Also emailing Departments is much easier than calling and they have to respond to your messages and it goes into your medical record automatically so if they tell you something that is not correct you can just show that to the advocate and it makes your case much easier. If you get community care you can also email the admins instead of waiting on the phone. I have found email to be much more effective and generally the person who answers emails seems to have better training and knowledge than some of the call center people do. Best of luck to you...

11/2023 Took 2 months to get an appointment for a wellness check up. 15 minutes into the discussion with the doctor her phone went off and she stated that it was time for the appointment to be over. I was rushed out and didn't even have time to talk about everything I wanted to or address other concerns of mine. An appointment for some scalp lesions that "could be cancerous" according to the doctor is now scheduled out 2 months from now. Suffering from chronic depression and anxiety I finally got the nerve to see a mental health professional. Guess how important a struggling vet is. 2 months from an appointment important. This VA hospital and staff are precisely why the VA has such a poor reputation. The lack of caring is plainly evident. I shudder to think how many vets don't seek care for these reasons. I cannot verbalize my disgust and disappointment enough.

Went in to the ER for extreme back pain. Saw a dr. MELISSA GILLESPIE whose initial greeting to me was, "What are we looking for today? You're here for back pain"? I thought this was an odd approach but explained my situation of chronic back pain and what I had done this time to try and alleviate the pain. Nothing had worked and I had finally decided to go to the ER which I have never done before but by this point it was the worst it had ever been and it was getting difficult to move or walk. When she started rattling off different narcotics to give me, it dawned on me that she may have thought I was a drug addict looking for a fix which would also explain the comment she made to me after offering me the narcotics, "just don't stop breathing on me or don't stop breathing on anybody. I attempted to steer the treatment in a different direction by suggesting a cortisone shot, never had one but I heard they were spectacular for back pain, but she said they didn't give shots in the back at the ER but I could get a shot of steroids in the arm and left to order the meds. The nurse returned with the steroid shot and 10mg. of hydrocodone. I explained I didn't want the narcotics as they had not worked for me when they were prescribed once before for another injury. He gave me the steroid shot and a pharmacist came afterwards with more hydrocodone and a stool softener. I repeated that I didn't want the narcotics. dr. MELISSA GILBERT came back to the room and offered to give me a different narcotic of a lesser dose. I left the ER still in extreme pain with a bag of muscle relaxers that I explained had worked poorly in the past for me. I fail to follow the thought process of offering a less dosage narcotic after the patient says they didn't want the narcotic and would prefer a less drastic approach of steroidal treatment or how it is impossible for an ER to give shots in the back. I left feeling very disappointed in discovering how the VA has earned such a poor reputation for its inability to properly treat patients and absolutely disgraced that a physician pushes narcotics so strongly. dr. MELISSA GILLESPIE appears to be a judgmental, opiniated physician, disinterested in treating the patient, preferring to slap some narcotics together to bolster her perceived idea of what the patient wants rather than listen to the patients needs. And now they want to charge me for that "doctor's" incompetence. I do not take exception with the VA facility, only...