To keep organized and accountable for his health, Army Veteran Gabriel Villegas makes use of a third-party cell app that has been vetted and authorised by VA. These apps join on to a Veteran’s VA.gov profile and permit the consumer to entry private VA knowledge, similar to health or service information. They’re known as “third-party” as a result of VA doesn’t create these providers. And you’re by no means required to make use of them.
Villegas just lately took a while to share his expertise utilizing OneRecord, an app that lets customers construct a consolidated medical document of their full health historical past, amongst different options.
This app is one in all some ways Veterans can entry their VA knowledge plus health and repair information. It will not be the one choice. Sharing this consumer story is offered as data to different Veterans, and doesn’t represent endorsement of the app by VA.
Thinking of the apps you usually use most frequently, what options or capabilities do you discover most respected? How does OneRecord examine?
From an expectation standpoint, every thing in an app must be straightforward, and navigation must be intuitive and clear. More importantly, an app ought to make it easier to get what you want from the expertise and get you again to dwelling your life. With OneRecord, it’s very user-friendly. You can use face ID to log in and join on to VA. The dashboard is intuitive and permits you to discover what you want simply, permitting you to drill all the way down to the document you want.
Has the app been helpful in day-to-day life? Are there real-world advantages?
What caught my consideration about OneRecord is that it allows you to add recordsdata and acquire your information in a single place. It brings again reminiscences of being within the Army when my spouse and I moved round seven occasions in seven years. With each transfer, there’s a means of going to the medical heart or supplier and acquiring arduous copies of medical information, placing these in my file field, and carrying it over to the subsequent obligation station or metropolis I used to be transferring to. Then it’s important to discover a new physician and deposit that paperwork with them. Sometimes they don’t need the arduous copies, and generally the earlier supplier doesn’t need to spend the hours faxing over 400 sheets of information. It can simply turn out to be a nightmare.
The app lets me add my very own recordsdata and serves as an digital submitting cupboard. I can use it to hook up with my health information, I can incorporate health insurance coverage, handle claims, and handle insurance coverage information. It’s like a one-stop store for health insurance coverage, and it provides worth as a result of every thing is true there in your hand.
What about after you’re arrange with a brand new supplier or physician? Is the app helpful from that time?
For me, there are many occasions after I’ve been to a supplier and per week later – and even later that day – my spouse asks concerning the appointment and 60 % of what we mentioned I’ve already forgotten. And there’s related data that I want from these visits! Whether it’s a prescription, utility of a drugs, directions of some type, or no matter it is perhaps, OneRecord offers me a greater grasp of that data.
What would you inform your fellow Veterans or navy colleagues about these third-party apps?
I’d say these apps can function a device that offers you more control over your life relative to your health and places you within the driver’s seat in relation to understanding your health. If you need higher control otherwise you’re able the place health enchancment is required, that is one other device that may make it easier to with that.
What different options would you wish to see with these apps? What will not be on the market but that you just suppose would profit Veterans?
I’ll say that there hasn’t been a time when more assets have been obtainable to Veterans than there at the moment are, whether or not it’s finance, know-how, health, leisure – you identify it. I do see a chance to supply more assets to Veterans for the transition part from the navy to the personal sector or civilian life. It can be nice to leverage assets that would assist Veterans discover jobs they’ll relate to and that may deliver them achievement and pleasure whereas nonetheless contributing to the economic system and general well-being of the nation.
Gabriel Villegas served as an Army Intelligence Officer for the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division and was stationed in Fort Carson, Colo., with a yr on obligation in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He at the moment works as a Lighthouse API Outreach Marketing Consultant for VA.
Learn more about all of the VA-approved linked apps and the advantages they provide. You may additionally need to try Mobile apps developed by VA instantly, together with the official VA Health and Benefits Mobile app, and apps for COVID and psychological health help, PTSD help, assist to give up smoking and consuming, insomnia reduction, entire health expertise and tricks to enhance your health, and VA Video Connect for connecting to telehealth appointments.