JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
If you're about to retire and want to streamline the process of filing a medical claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Naval Health Clinic Charleston can help you do just that.
Staff members at NHCC's Patient Administration Department will scan and upload your entire paper-based medical and dental records into the Health Artifacts Image Management Solutions
HAIMS creates a fully electronic Service Treatment Record accessible to the VA, helping improve claims processing time.
"Naval Health Clinic Charleston has worked hard to implement this process to better serve our fellow service members," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jesse Miller, NHCC Patient Administration leading petty officer.
The STR is a chronology of a service member's entire and complete medical and dental history, and is required by the VA to process disability claims and provide veterans, retirees or demobilized reservists with proper medical care and benefits.
Recently, the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery released a fleet wide message, NAVADMIN 187/14, mandating all Military Treatment Facilities implement this process for official retirement of STRs.
Prior to separation, servicemembers are strongly encouraged to request a complete copy of their STR for their personal records, said Miller. A copy can be obtained at the medical records office of the MTF that provides your care.
If you're a servicemember who separated from the military and obtained and kept your original medical and or dental records by mistake, you can turn them in to the NHCC medical records department to be properly processed and retired to the VA, said Miller.
If you have any questions about STR retirement or if you have your official medical and or dental record that still needs to be retired, contact the NHCC outpatient medical records staff at 794-6089.