Assignment of specialist for AMI?

[ric]

DS earned a sideload.

DS reported that the reviewing board has not located a contracted specialist w/in the 60-mile radius to review a (likely minor) item that caused a Disqualification. They were able to find the ultrasound provider and DS had that test completed in short order. He got all the administrative AMI done straight away.

DS could likely get this appointment done quickly via Kaiser at no/minimal cost to us. But the "best" channel identified was to use DoDmerb/Reviewing board's contractor.

Does that recommendation still stand if they have to find and then contract a provider in the area? And then schedule? And then review?

The contractor mentioned they had 30 days (business?calendar?) to locate someone. He's probably 12-15 days into that time.

 

[MullenLE]

Will reply in a few hours

 

[MullenLE]

MOM/DAD: Google "DoDMERB;" Hit "Questions on the process;" Read paragraph #4.

DS : Send me an email: lawrence.e.mullen.civ@mail.mil (***ensure you type the email just as it looks. No extra “e” anywhere***); provide complete name and last 4 SSN; provide the text of your Parent's posting above to YOUR email. The subject line of the email should be “Ric-SAF=Assignment of Specialist for AMI.“ Do NOT embed links in your email as I will not be able to view those.

Q = DS could likely get this appointment done quickly via Kaiser at no/minimal cost to us. But the "best" channel identified was to use DoDmerb/Reviewing board's contractor.
A = The AMI requirement lists the options. The first is a viable option

 

[ric]

@MullenLE thanks for the application of your "intricate" knowledge. I'll ask DS if he wants to connect; as you implied this is probably more a "dad" thing than a "ds" thing. And as noted, he's halfway through the period.

Note to others, the DodMerb experience was quite good for DS; despite finals, relocation from school to home for summer, COVID. All of the DodMerb communications were timely and clear. Up to a specialist visit, appointments were readily available. Very short times between exams and seeing them posted in the portal.

 

[MullenLE]

Our honor and privilege to serve

 

[ric]

Follow up:

DS was issued waiver 8-23! So essentially two months elapsed from initial denial to completed waiver. He just found out on the 1st when asked to sign the contract. So he was pleasantly surprised. Unclear where/if the notification went/was sent.

The Caseworker updated file almost immediately throughout the process. DS sent all AMI in pdf with sequential numbering (23 AMIs in total), explicit title/provider/date/and id and NAME. Lesson: make it easy for people to help you.

He had a misdiagnosis based on a test needed to rule out the original problem. And this created another disqualification and the requirement to do many more tests to unwind this secondary erroneous condition.

Lesson: follow the instructions exactly as written, even if that didn't make "sense" to the GP or him. Specifically, if it says "specialist type X offer an opinion on A,B, and C": do that. It's not helpful to have specialist W offer the opinion.

The people assigning specialists were helpful but he is not in a very populated area and had a couple of specialists needed to rule out disqualifiers. So getting the contracted specialists took much longer than using his own insurance. In fact, other than the original eye and physical, all was done under personal plan. He'd probably still be waiting using the contracted providers. At 30 days, the scheduler said nothing available, and a week later she had found someone but was working on a contract with them. That never went to completion, as far as he knew. Lesson: use the preferred system but make alternate plans. He just used his GP and referrals within his HMO. The goal is a waiver.

 

[ric]

Final Follow up on process:

A lovely letter from the dept of navy arrived on the 9-9, dated 8-18 through 8-20 in the various steps of approval.

He never received an email on waiver approval. Cleared for Marine Corp Ground Officer. It's interesting that DS sent the last AMI on the 18th, so the caseworker and review board were likely waiting to pounce on an approval.

Many he would have been able to sense it on one of the websites. But couldn't/didn't.

But just thought an example of the timing would be of interest.

 

[MullenLE]

Not having an email (I receive thousands of emails) of the exact specification of the person and situation, I'll state this for the purpose of closure.

The notification for waiver decision for NROTC USMC Option is made by NROTC and through their manual actions, are posted to the DoDMERB website