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How do I get emergency medical care if I'm enrolled with the Sheridan VA?

health care workers wheel a patient on a gurney into an emergency room
By Kristina Miller, Public affairs officer

The Sheridan VA Medical Center does NOT have an emergency department, nor do any of the eight community clinics which make up the health care system.

Therefore, it's important to know where the nearest emergency department in case you are ever faced with a life-threatening emergency. First, it's important to understand that a medical emergency is an injury, illness or symptom so severe that a delay in seeking immediate medical attention would be reasonably expected to be hazardous to life or health. If you believe your life or health is in danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department right away.

Once you visit an emergency department, make sure to inform the emergency care provider to report your emergency treatment to VA’s Centralized Emergency Care Reporting Center as soon as possible after your treatment. This can be by:

You, or someone acting on your behalf, can also report the emergency treatment to VA. VA should only be notified once and ideally that notification is from the community emergency facility where treatment is being conducted. If you have a need to coordinate care or transfer to a VAMC, contact the nearest VAMC immediately.

Notifying VA of an emergency event allows covered Veterans to have their emergency treatment authorized by VA. Failure to report emergency care to VA within 72 hours of the start of the emergency treatment may impact your eligibility for VA to cover the cost of treatment. However, even if the notification to VA did not occur timely, the emergency treatment may still be eligible for VA reimbursement.

To qualify for coverage:

  1. You must be enrolled in the VA health care system or have a qualifying exemption from enrollment.
  2. A VA health care facility or other federal facility with the capability to provide the necessary emergency services must not be feasibly available* to provide the emergency treatment. AGAIN, the Sheridan VA Medical Center does not have emergency department.
  3. The medical situation is of such a nature that a prudent layperson would reasonably expect that a delay in seeking immediate medical attention would be hazardous to life or health.
  4. The claim is filed timely.

If you would like more details, go to Emergency Medical Care - Community Care (va.gov)

For a downloadable fact sheet, click here: VA Community Emergency Care Notification Veterans Information Fact Sheet