Veterans Health Centre
70 Hall St, Sherwood, QLD
Fax: (07) 3036 5846
DVA Claims.
Permanent Impairment.
Healthcare.
Veterans Health Centre was founded as Australia’s premier Medicolegal and Healthcare Clinic for Australian Veterans and their families.
We are 100% owned and operated by ADF Veterans.
We have been in operation since 2019, and in that time helped hundreds of Veterans with:
- DVA Claims
- Permanent Impairment Assessments
- Structured Healthcare.
Our aim is to help ADF Veterans to navigate the nuances of submitting DVA Claims, assessing Permanent Impairment, and obtaining quality and structured healthcare after leaving the Australian Defence Force.
VHC is managed by Dr Thomas Perkins (FRACGP MBBS BEng GAICD MCSE) – Dr Perkins joined the Air Force in 1996 as an Engineer, and in the last 25 years has worked as an Engineering Officer, Medical Officer and Contracted Health Professional to the ADF before leaving to start the Veterans Health Centre in 2019.
Dr Perkins has also worked for DVA as a Contracted Medical Assessor, providing opinions on DVA claim diagnoses, as well as allocation of impairment points under VEA and DRCA.
We have assisted 800 Veterans so far, in navigating the complexities of DVA, providing healthcare, and most importantly, understanding of the Veteran experience and healthcare needs.
DVA Claims
- Initial Liability Claims Done Right
- We have 10+ years in Military and Veterans Medicine, along with our knowledge and experience of the details of the entire process, from Initial Liability through to Permanent Impairment.
- We have worked for DVA in the past, and attained an insight into the medical and administrative processes.
- We bring this experience to bear with applying expertise to your Initial Liability claim.
Diagnostic Assessments
- We conduct Diagnostic Assessments in strict accordance with the DVA GARP and the AMA5 (American Medical Association) guide to Whole Person Impairment.
- These typically take about 2-8 hours, depending on the number of claims required to be processed. Sometimes they can take multiple days to complete.
- We create an Independent Report, as well as complete the DVA forms for creation of a comprehensive medicolegal report with no ambiguity, to facilitate claim submission to DVA.
PI Assessments
- We conduct Permanent Impairment Assessments in strict accordance with the DVA GARP and the AMA5 (American Medical Association) guide to Whole Person Impairment.
- These typically take about 2-8 hours, depending on the number of claims required to be processed. Sometimes they can take multiple days to complete.
- We create an Independent Report, as well as complete the DVA forms for creation of a comprehensive medicolegal report with no ambiguty, and resultant impairment allocation with DVA.
Healthcare for Veterans
- We provide comprehensive bulk-billed health care for ADF Veterans
- Having served ourselves, we understand ADF service and the nature of the mental and physical injuries that service can impart.
- We provide compassion, understanding and comprehensive healthcare knowledge.
- We do comprehensive Veterans Health Assessments after discharge from the ADF.
- We create comprehensive GP Management Plans, Team Care Arrangements , Mental Health Care Plans to provide world-class healthcare.
- We have a network of Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Physiotherapists, Exercise Physiologists and Specialists to create health care teams.
- We have good a relationship with providers of social support services, such as Mates4Mates, for the provision of “compassionate bridging” and rebuilding of self.
DVA Claims – Detail
DVA Claims
- Initial Liability Claims Done Right
- We have 10+ years in Military and Veterans Medicine, along with our knowledge and experience of the details of the entire process, from Initial Liability through to Permanent Impairment.
- We have worked for DVA in the past, and attained an insight into the medical and administrative processes.
- We bring this experience to bear with applying expertise to your Initial Liability claim.
DVA Claims
- (NB: Due to high demand volumes, complete chart reviews are now available at $290 for new patients).
- 1/ Obtain your med docs on USB or CD from Base Medical or Defence Records
- 2/ Upload your documents to dropbox.com and share it with us via veteranshealthcentre@gmail.com. Text 0429146039 or email with confirmation.
- 3/ Or bring your USB/CD into the clinic – no appointment needed!
DVA Claims
Step 2- 1/ We set you up with a paralegal Case Manager to go through all your claims with you.
- Deliverables include:
- DVA Diagnosis Form
- – Medicolegal Report/Consul
- Supporting Documents
DVA Claims
Step 3- 1/ We set you up with a paralegal Case Manager to go through all your claims with you.
- 2/ We set aside an hour per claim to create the medicolegal reports, organise the supporting documents and submit your claim to DVA’s MyService on MyGov. This is done by Telehealth or in-person at the clinic.
Permanent Impairment – Detail
PI Assessments
- We conduct Permanent Impairment Assessments in strict accordance with the DVA GARP and the AMA5 (American Medical Association) guide to Whole Person Impairment.
- These typically take about 2-8 hours, depending on the number of claims required to be processed. Sometimes they can take multiple days to complete.
- We create an Independent Report, as well as complete the DVA forms for creation of a comprehensive medicolegal report with no ambiguty, and resultant impairment allocation with DVA.
PI Assesments
- Permanent Impairment Assessments are the process by which the Impairment is allocated for Compensation.
- This is done through the DVA Guide to Assessments of Rates of Veterans Pensions (GARP), which is, in turn, derived from the American Medical Association Guide to Whole Person Impairment (AMA5).
- Our process is very similar to that used by DVA’s internal assessors, with creation of a standalone report as well as completing the DVA documentation. DVA often require the Medical Incapacity Certificate at this stage.
- History consists of a comprehensive general history, followed by specific history related to the condition being assessed. We focus on the details and nuances of pain and functional loss in the history, before doing physical examination in strict accordance with the GARP.
- Examples of how physical examination is done, is to assess ranges of motion actively, rather than passively move limbs through their ranges of motion, as per the GARP.
Diagnostic Impairment – Detail
Diagnostic Assessments
- We conduct Diagnostic Assessments in strict accordance with the DVA GARP and the AMA5 (American Medical Association) guide to Whole Person Impairment.
- These typically take about 2-8 hours, depending on the number of claims required to be processed. Sometimes they can take multiple days to complete.
- We create an Independent Report, as well as complete the DVA forms for creation of a comprehensive medicolegal report with no ambiguity, to facilitate claim submission to DVA.
Diagnostic Assessments
- The Diagnostic Assessment is a new process created by DVA in 2021, to capture additional information required for capturing the requirements needed in the Initial Liability stage.
- This is a similar process to Permanent Impairment Assessments, and is done via the creation of our own standalone report, fulfilment of the DVA documents, and requesting any additional information via Imaging or Specialist referrals.
- This process is all invoiced directly to DVA, and available at no cost for the veteran.
Healthcare – Detail
Healthcare for Veterans
- We provide comprehensive bulk-billed health care for ADF Veterans
- Having served ourselves, we understand ADF service and the nature of the mental and physical injuries that service can impart.
- We provide compassion, understanding and comprehensive healthcare knowledge.
- We do comprehensive Veterans Health Assessments after discharge from the ADF.
- We create comprehensive GP Management Plans, Team Care Arrangements , Mental Health Care Plans to provide world-class healthcare.
- We have a network of Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Physiotherapists, Exercise Physiologists and Specialists to create health care teams.
- We have good a relationship with providers of social support services, such as Mates4Mates, for the provision of “compassionate bridging” and rebuilding of self.
Chronic Disease Management
- The essence of our approach to Veteran Healthcare is the creation of some Medicare/ DVA medical documents, called “GP Management Plans” and “Team Care Arrangements“, which describes your unique healthcare needs.
- Via these instruments, we can set up all of your referrals, establish your new healthcare provider network (GP, Physio, Psychologist, Psychiatrist etc), set your health goals, and ways to measure these.
- Under DVA, referrals are valid for 12 treatment cycles, after which a report is needed from the specialist or allied health professional, then another 12 treatments can be provided. This cycle can be repeated as much as needed.
- We then review this plan every 3 months, to ensure your healthcare is on track and optimise your health, lifestyle and life.
- This service is bulk-billed to DVA. Medicare, and available at no cost to the Veteran.
Veterans Health Assessments
- The essence of providing healthcare immediately after leaving the Australian Defence Force is the Veteran Health Assessment, otherwise known as the Post-ADF Discharge Health Assessment.
- This consists of taking a comprehensive history, focussing on:
- Details of your ADF service.
- Number of deployments.
- Concussions / Head injuries.
- Mental Health.
- Lifestyle – alcohol, exercise, nutrition, home life, substance use.
- Injuries and diseases obtained in service.
- The aim of this health assessment is to identify your healthcare needs and allow the creation of a detailed GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangement to co-ordinate your healthcare under our Chronic Disease Management model.
Co-ordinated Veterans Care
- The DVA Co-ordinated Veterans Care (CVC) Program opens up on 1 July 2021 to all White Card Holders with an accepted mental health condition, and allows for an extra layer of healthcare to be offered to eligible ADF Veterans.
- Through this program, we can arrange for a monthly telehealth call with our CVC Practice Nurse, as well as a quarterly Home Visit if desired.
- This allows us to provide an even more comprehensive layer of structured healthcare to your case, to optimise your healthcare and life.
Latest Articles
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How to Obtain your ADF Medical Records
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DVA Mefloquine Tafenoquine Health Checks
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Update 30 Nov – 12 DVA Claims found on Chart Review
Today we completed a Chart Review for a Veteran who booked in for a Permanent Impairment Assessment after initial assessment with an RSL Advocate. He had 10 claims in, but it was a mix of Orthopaedic Conditions that seemed like it had missed some obvious claims - he...
19 November 2020 – DVA Diagnosis – JEHDI file review
Today in Claims Caddy we have had the chance to peruse the medical file on CD of a current Air Force Member. We found 21 new claims, mainly discrete injuries, and were able to refine the diagnoses for some currently claimed conditions. The patient was provided with...
Tinnitus Scoring – the Nuances
There is something to be aware of when assessing theseverity of Tinnitus, in that there is a potential disconnect between the scoring systems used by Medical Professionals - Doctors, Audiologists vs the scoring system used by DVA. Lets examine the...
Permanent Impairment Assessment – 9 Nov 20
We completed a 9 claim Permenent Impairment Assessment today. Done over multiple sessions, with some fairly complex interplay and nuances with the conditions, we completed this over a 2 week timeframe, in slow time as to get the details all correct.
Permanent Impairment Assessment – 10 Nov
Today we completed a Permanent Impairment Assessment, just a small one with 4 conditions. This took about 4 hours all up, and was completely finished in this time, with the report submitted by lunchtime that day.
Permanent Impairment Assessments – now Australia-wide
Permanent Impairment Assessments have been now made available throughout Australia. For anyone with more than 4 claims to be assessed, we are happy to assist with the cost of travel for getting these Assessments done in Brisbane. Dr Thomas Perkins from the Veterans...
Help with DVA Claims now available Australia-wide
At the Veterans Health Centre, we are happy to be able to offer assistance with DVA claims nation-wide, all over Australia. More information is available at https://vhc.org.au/dva-claims.
DVA Claims Caddy
DVA Claims Caddy is a fully turn-key service, that enables you to find all the claims available in your medical chart, at a low cost and with no effort. Details of this service are at https://vhc.org.au/dva-claims-caddy. WIth this service, we take the time to trawl...
Update – 12 Sep 20
Today we were visited by a 12 month post ADF discharge Veteran for a Veterans Health Check and setup of his basic healthcare needs. We focussed on his mental health in this consult, with a view to setting up his mental health care plan, support services including...
Update – 11 Sep 20
Today we saw an elderly Gold Card Vietnam Veteran for takeover of his healthcare, and ongoing checkups and organisation of age-appropriate screening and vaccinations, after initially meeting him for the first time a week ago. In that time we have sorted out routine...
Update – 10 Sep 2020
Today we met a young female ADF veteran, recently discharged. We completed her Veterans Health Check, did her GP Management Plan, her Team Care Arrangement (useful Medicare tools to organise healthcare), did her referrals and added two extra DVA claims in on her DVA...
Update – 9 Sep 2020
Today we helped a currently serving ADF Member who is is the process of discharging from the ADF. Over the course of an hour, we worked through a lengthy history, completed 9 DVA Diagnosis forms to assist with his DVA claims, worked through some possible claims that...
Update – 5 Sep 2020
Today I completed a MAMMOTH 28 claim Permanent Impairment Assessment for a young Veteran who was medically discharged. This took 2 days of taking a history, examining, assessing investigations, measuring ranges of motion and grip strength, and integrating all of this...
DVA’s guides to assess compensation
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