Important Updates for Veterans
Attention Veterans:
The Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center (VAMC) is scheduled to launch VA’s new electronic health record on March 26, 2022. This change will affect Veterans who receive care at all of Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VAMC sites of care located in Walla Walla, Richland and Yakima, Washington; Boardman, Enterprise and La Grande, Oregon; and Lewiston, Idaho.
The new electronic health record system will transform health care for Veterans, allowing VA clinicians, staff and community health care providers to access your full medical history on a single platform without you or your provider needing to track down previous health information.
As part of this change, you will be using a new online patient portal called My VA Health, which will support your care at the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VAMC.
You must continue to use the My HealtheVet patient portal to request prescription refills or renewals for your medications that were ordered by VA providers from other VA medical facilities that are not using the new electronic health record. The prescriptions from VA medical facilities not using the new electronic health record will not be transferred to the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VAMC. User guides and resources will soon be shared with you to help you navigate this change.
In the meantime, here are a few actions you must take now to prepare for this change:
- Refill and renew prescriptions early: Submit VA prescription refill and/or renewal requests as soon as possible and not later than March 23, 2022, to avoid possible delays in processing your prescriptions. After March 23, 2022, you will not be able to request prescription refills or renewals using My HealtheVet from the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VAMC. You can still request refills during an appointment, by mailing in a refill slip or using the automated phone system by calling 509-525-5200 or 888-687-8863, pressing 1 for pharmacy related calls and following the prompts to refill a prescription or speak to a representative. Your early action will assist pharmacy staff help you prepare for the new patient portal.
- Double-check your account type: To access My VA Health, you can use any of these three accounts: Premium Department of Defense Self-Service (DS) Logon account, Premium My HealtheVet account or a verified ID.me account. Please note that My VA Health will require you to enable multifactor authentication to log in. If you have a Basic My HealtheVet account, you should upgrade your account now by going to https://www.myhealth.va.gov/premium. At that link, you will find a step-by-step guide on how to upgrade your account to Premium at no cost.
- Confirm your contact information on file is accurate: Make sure your contact information and addresses are up to date in your VA profile at VA.gov before the new My VA Health patient portal is launched on March 26, 2022. To make updates, log in to VA Profile at https://www.va.gov/profile/personal-information or through VA.gov using your Premium DS Logon account, Premium My HealtheVet account or a verified ID.me account. You can contact Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VAMC’s My HealtheVet Facility Coordinator at 509-525-5200, ext. 26464 with any questions or if you need additional assistance.
- Bring your third-party insurance card: If you use third-party insurance, bring your insurance card to your first appointment with your VA provider on or after March 26, 2022. Doing so will help ensure we have the correct information on file for you.
We are here to support you through this transition to VA’s new electronic health record and patient portal. To learn more about these changes, visit: https://www.va.gov/walla-walla-health-care/programs/electronic-health-record-modernization/.
If you are still having issues, please reach out to my office using the form below: