Talk To Your Doctor
How to reach a doctor about a military exposure, the words that get it written into your record, the direct line and email for the exposure clinician at your own VA medical center, and every VA registry explained — all on this page.
The distance between I know what I was exposed to and a claim VA can grant is almost always one thing: a medical record that never mentions the exposure. Nobody asks. A civilian doctor will not ask what you burned in a pit at Bagram, and a VA primary care provider seeing you for a cough has fifteen minutes and no reason to guess. So it never gets typed into the note, and years later a rating decision says there is no evidence of exposure — not because you were not exposed, but because no clinician ever wrote it down.
You can fix that with a phone call and one sentence. This page is the whole path in one place: the three numbers that start it, the name and direct line of the environmental health coordinator at your own VA medical center, the words to use on the phone and in the exam room, and the six VA registry and surveillance programs with what each one actually does. None of it is a diagnosis, none of it replaces your doctor, and none of it requires a lawyer, a rating, or a dollar. If you want a second set of eyes on your file afterward, we are at the bottom of the page.
Pick up the phone
Three numbers that start the process
Try them in this order. The first one exists for exposure and nothing else, which is why it is first — most veterans have never heard of it.
VET-HOME — the VA exposure team
833-633-8846Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET
Veterans Exposure Team — Health Outcomes Military Exposures. A free telehealth evaluation with a clinician trained specifically in military environmental exposures, available to any veteran enrolled in VA health care anywhere in the United States or its territories. The clinician documents your exposure history, answers exposure questions, recommends testing, and VA mails you a letter with the results and what they mean. They also run the registry evaluations, which do not require health-care enrollment.
What they do not do: prescribe medication, or complete disability claim forms.
MyVA411 — the VA main line
800-698-241124 hours a day, 7 days a week
One number, any hour, for everything. Ask to be put through to the scheduling line at your own VA medical center, or ask for the environmental health coordinator at your facility by that title. If you get stuck in a menu, press 0 for a person.
Use this when you have a facility but not a phone number, or a question but not a department.
VA Health Benefits Hotline
877-222-8387Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET
Enrollment in VA health care is what unlocks VA primary care and the toxic exposure screening. Under the PACT Act, many veterans who were turned away years ago are eligible now, so do not assume an old answer still applies. Enrolling does not mean giving up your own doctor, and it is not the same thing as filing a claim.
Enrolling in health care and filing a disability claim are two separate processes. Neither requires the other.
If this is a crisis, that call comes first
Dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. The Veterans Crisis Line is staffed 24 hours a day. You do not need to be enrolled in VA health care and you do not need a service-connected rating to use it. If it is a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room — do not drive yourself, and do not wait to reach a VA facility first. Tell VA within 72 hours afterward and keep every discharge paper and bill.
Your own VA, by name
The exposure clinician at your VA medical center
Every VA medical center has an environmental health coordinator. That is the person who arranges an exposure evaluation and a registry examination, who can check whether you are already in the burn pit registry, and who knows how to get an exposure history into VA's record correctly. Most veterans have never been told that job exists, so they call a general number, get bounced, and give up.
Below is that list, copied from VA's own published directory — the facility, the address, the coordinator by name, the direct line with the extension, and the VA email address. Pick your state. If you would rather not travel, VET-HOME does the same evaluation by telehealth.
144 VA facilities, 52 states and territories
Pick your state above and you will get the coordinator by name, the direct line with the extension, and the VA email address. Then say one sentence: I served with a military environmental exposure, and I want an exposure evaluation and my exposure history documented in my record. That is the whole ask. You do not need a diagnosis, a rating, or a lawyer to make that call.
Not listed, number changed, or nobody picks up? Call VET-HOME at 833-633-8846 for a telehealth exposure evaluation anywhere in the country, or call MyVA411 at 800-698-2411 any hour and ask to be transferred to the environmental health coordinator at your facility. Every name and number above is copied from VA's own published list, captured July 2026. Source: VA Public Health coordinator list.
Word for word
What to say when you call
Read it off the screen if you want to. Schedulers are not trying to block you — they are working from a script of their own, and these are the phrases that fit into it.
- 1
I am a veteran and I would like the next available appointment with my primary care provider. If you are not enrolled in VA health care yet, say instead: I am a veteran and I want to enroll in VA health care.
- 2
During my service I worked around — then name the hazards in plain words. Burn pits and smoke. JP-8 and jet exhaust. Solvents and degreasers. Paint and primer. Asbestos and lead. Herbicides. Contaminated drinking water. Radiation. Whatever it actually was.
- 3
I was at — then name every place and every year. Base, ship, camp, and the temporary duty nobody wrote down. Then name every job you actually did there, not only the one on your orders.
- 4
I want my exposure history documented in my record today, please. That sentence is the whole reason for the call.
- 5
I would also like my toxic exposure screening. VA is required to offer it to every enrolled veteran, an initial screening and then at least once every five years, and it takes about five to ten minutes.
- 6
And I want to talk about testing and a referral, because this has been going on for weeks rather than days. Then describe what changed — not what you think it is.
And when you get pushback
- If you are told the screening is not available: ask your facility for its Toxic Exposure Screening Navigator, by that title. Every VA facility has one.
- If nothing is available for months: ask to be added to the cancellation list, and ask whether a nurse can advise you in the meantime.
- If nobody will write the exposure down: call VET-HOME at 833-633-8846. Documenting a military exposure history is the entire purpose of that clinic.
- If you only see a civilian doctor: they can write the exposure history down and order tests, and that helps. What they cannot do is VA’s toxic exposure screening, which only exists inside VA’s own record system.
In the exam room
How to talk to your doctor about this condition
You have fifteen minutes and a clinician who is thinking about the complaint on the intake form. The goal of the visit is not to win an argument about causation — it is to get two facts into a dated note: what you were exposed to, and what your body is doing now. Everything else can follow later.
Go in with the exposure written on paper and the symptoms in a timeline. Describe what changed and when, not what you think it is. A clinician decides what any of it means, orders what is appropriate, and rules things in or out — that is their job and this page does not do it for them.
Lead with the exposure, not the symptom
- Say the exposure out loud in the first thirty seconds, before the conversation narrows to one symptom. Doctors are trained to chase the complaint in front of them, and almost none of them will ask what you burned, breathed, or handled in uniform.
- Use the plain names: burn pits, JP-8, jet exhaust, solvents, degreasers, paint, primer, asbestos, lead, herbicides, contaminated water, radiation, depleted uranium.
- Give unit, every location, and every job you actually performed — not just your MOS. The MOS on paper is the single most common reason VA later says there is no evidence of exposure.
- Bring one page with the hazards, the places, the years, and the jobs. Hand it across the desk and ask for it to be scanned into your chart.
The sentence that gets it into the record
- Ask for it directly and specifically: please document in today’s note that I report military environmental exposure to these hazards, at these places, during these years.
- Do not assume it was written down because you said it. Before you leave, ask for a copy of the visit note. Read it in the parking lot.
- If the exposure is missing from the note, say so and ask for an addendum. Politely, but ask. A clinician can add to a note.
- The date is the point. A dated entry is proof years later that you raised the exposure before you had a diagnosis, before you had a lawyer, and before anyone mentioned money.
What to ask them to consider ordering
- Asking is your part. Deciding is theirs — a clinician orders what is appropriate, and nothing on this page is a diagnosis or a prescription.
- For breathing complaints, spirometry before and after a bronchodilator is the usual starting point. Ask what your FEV1 and FVC numbers actually were.
- Ask for the numbers, not the word normal. Get copies of every result, including labs and imaging, and keep them in your own folder.
- If a symptom is still there after a normal test, go back. A normal result rules out some things; it does not rule out everything.
- If you need a specialist, ask by name — pulmonary, cardiology, neurology, nephrology, hematology, oncology — and ask that the exposure history travel with the referral.
What a doctor can and cannot do for a claim
- What a doctor can do: write down your exposure history, order tests, refer you, and record what they observe. That is the raw material every claim is built from.
- What a doctor cannot do: grant a claim. They also are not obligated to write a nexus opinion, and pushing a treating provider for one can sour the relationship you need for your health.
- VET-HOME clinicians say it plainly: they do not prescribe medication and they do not complete disability claim forms. That is not a brush-off. Their job is the exposure record.
- A VA compensation and pension exam is not treatment and the examiner is not your doctor. Keep the two separate in your head, and never assume the examiner read your file.
The two sentences, if you remember nothing else
1. I was exposed to these hazards, at these places, during these years, doing these jobs.
2. Please document that exposure history in today's note, and I would like a copy of the note before I leave.
That is it. Say those two things at a VA appointment, a community appointment, or a VET-HOME telehealth visit, and you have created the dated record that most denied claims are missing.
The programs, one by one
VA's exposure registries and surveillance programs
A registry evaluation is a one-time clinical assessment. VA documents your exposure history, examines you with that history in front of them, and sends you a letter with the results, what they mean, and what to follow up on. The population data is used anonymously for research. Taking part does not affect your care or your benefits, and registry evaluations are available whether or not you are enrolled in VA health care — call VET-HOME at 833-633-8846 to arrange one, or the coordinator at your own facility if you would rather be seen in person.
Two things a registry is not. It is not a claim, and nothing you do here starts or replaces one. And it is not proof of exposure on its own — being in a registry does not win a claim, and not being in one does not sink it. Treat these as free clinical attention plus a dated record, which is exactly what most files are short of.
Agent Orange Registry
Who it is for. Veterans who may have been exposed to herbicides, including Agent Orange, during service.
What happens. A free, exposure-focused health examination by a VA clinician, with your exposure history documented and a written summary of the findings.
It is not a disability exam, it is not a claim, and taking part does not commit you to filing anything.
Agent Orange Registry on VA Public Health
Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry
Who it is for. Veterans and service members who served in the listed operations and locations. Since August 1, 2024, VA and the Defense Department enroll eligible people automatically, from deployment records, for service between August 2, 1990 and August 31, 2021.
What happens. Nothing to sign up for, in most cases. If you enrolled yourself before the redesign, your enrollment carried over. To check your status, ask the environmental health coordinator at your facility.
The registry holds deployment and demographic data only — no medical information. It is optional, it is not required to file a claim, and it is not evidence of exposure on its own.
Open the burn pit registry
Gulf War Registry
Who it is for. Veterans who served in the Gulf War and the Southwest Asia theater of operations.
What happens. A free registry examination and a documented exposure history, with a written summary of what was found and what to follow up on.
It is not the same thing as a claim, and it does not replace filing one. It also does not affect your eligibility for care or benefits either way.
Gulf War Registry on VA Public Health
Ionizing Radiation Registry
Who it is for. Veterans who took part in a radiation-risk activity during service.
What happens. A free registry examination with your radiation exposure history documented in VA’s own record, plus a written summary.
It is not a claim and it is not a rating decision. It is a clinical assessment and a research record.
Radiation registry exam on VA Public Health
Depleted Uranium Follow-Up Program
Who it is for. Veterans who were in or on a vehicle struck by depleted uranium rounds, who were near a fire or an explosion involving depleted uranium munitions or armor, or who were deployed to Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan.
What happens. Urine testing for uranium plus a clinical evaluation. Call VET-HOME at 833-633-8846 and ask to speak with a nurse about depleted uranium urine testing.
A normal result does not erase the exposure from your history, and it does not decide a claim.
Depleted uranium program on VA Public Health
Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance
Who it is for. Veterans carrying retained fragments from a blast injury — metal that was never removed.
What happens. Long-term surveillance and evaluation through VA’s Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, because embedded metal can keep releasing into the body for decades.
It is a surveillance and evaluation program, not a claim, and not a substitute for treatment of the injury itself.
Embedded fragment center on VA Public HealthTurn this page into an appointment
How to get seen about this
Reading a symptom list changes nothing on its own. A dated note in your medical record does — for your health first, and years later for a claim. Below is every route to an appointment, the phrase that gets your exposure history written down, and the numbers to dial. Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and none of it replaces your doctor.
Some things do not wait for a scheduler
Chest pain or pressure lasting more than a few minutes, or chest pain with sweating, nausea, or pain spreading to the jaw or arm
Sudden trouble breathing, or breathlessness while sitting still
Face droop, weakness or numbness on one side, slurred speech, or sudden confusion
Coughing up or vomiting blood, or bleeding that will not stop
A first seizure, or fainting you cannot explain
Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. Do not wait to reach a VA facility first, and do not drive yourself. Tell VA as soon as you can afterward — VA asks to be notified within 72 hours of emergency care received in the community — and keep every discharge paper and bill.
Call your VA medical center
Fastest- Calling your own VA facility is the quickest way to get an appointment. VA Health Connect gives you round-the-clock phone access to a scheduler, a nurse, and in many regions a provider.
- Do not know your facility's number? Call MyVA411 at 800-698-2411, any hour, and ask to be connected to your VA medical center's scheduling line.
- Say you are an established patient if you already have a primary care provider, and ask for the next available appointment with that provider.
- If nothing is available soon, ask to be added to the cancellation list and ask whether a nurse can advise in the meantime.
Call VET-HOME — VA's exposure team
Exposure-specific- 833-633-8846, Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET. VET-HOME stands for Veterans Exposure Team — Health Outcomes Military Exposures, and it exists for exactly this conversation.
- Say: I want a military environmental exposure assessment. The intake center schedules you with a clinician specially trained in military environmental exposures — by telehealth, so it does not matter how far you live from a medical center. Any veteran enrolled in VA health care, anywhere in the United States or its territories, can use it.
- The clinician documents your exposure history, answers exposure-related questions, and recommends follow-up. If labs, imaging, breathing tests, or a specialty consult are needed, they say so. Afterward VA mails you a letter with your results, what they mean, and the recommendations.
- Two limits, so you are not surprised: VET-HOME clinicians do not prescribe medication and do not complete disability claim forms. What they produce is a dated VA record of your exposure history — which is the piece most claims are missing.
- They also handle the environmental health registry evaluations, and those do not require VA health-care enrollment. If you would rather be seen in person, ask for the environmental health coordinator at your own facility instead — the list is further down this site's Talk To Your Doctor page.
Schedule online or message your care team
- Sign in on VA.gov to schedule or request many appointments yourself. What you can book online depends on your facility and the type of care.
- You can also send your care team a secure message through My HealtheVet. Use it for non-urgent things — replies typically take up to three business days.
- Secure messaging is not for anything urgent. If you need an answer today, call instead.
- Locked out or cannot find the option? The My HealtheVet help desk is 877-327-0022.
Not enrolled in VA health care yet
- Call the VA Health Benefits Hotline at 877-222-8387, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET, and say you want to enroll in VA health care.
- Enrollment is what unlocks VA primary care and the toxic exposure screening. Under the PACT Act many veterans who were turned away years ago are now eligible, so do not assume an old answer still applies.
- Enrolling does not mean giving up your own doctor. Plenty of veterans keep a civilian provider and use VA alongside it.
- Enrolling in health care is separate from filing a disability claim. One does not require the other.
You see a civilian or private doctor
- Ask the front desk for the next available appointment and tell them why: a symptom that has lasted weeks, plus chemical and airborne exposure during military service.
- Bring this page, or write the exposures and years on one sheet of paper. Hand it over and ask for it to be scanned into your chart.
- A community provider can order tests, refer you, and write your exposure history down — all of which helps. What they cannot do is VA's toxic exposure screening, which only happens inside VA's own record system.
- Ask for a copy of the visit note and every result. Those copies are yours, and they are what a claim is eventually built from.
If you are in crisis right now
24/7- Dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. The Veterans Crisis Line is staffed around the clock.
- You do not need to be enrolled in VA health care, and you do not need a service-connected rating, to use it.
- You can also start a confidential chat from VA's crisis line website, or ask any VA staff member to walk you to someone.
Ask for your toxic exposure screening
The PACT Act requires VA to offer this to every veteran enrolled in VA health care. It takes about five to ten minutes, and it is the cheapest way to get your exposure history into VA's own record in VA's own words.
What it is
A short set of questions asking whether you believe you were exposed to open burn pits and other airborne hazards, Agent Orange, radiation, Gulf War-related hazards, or contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
Who can get it
Every veteran enrolled in VA health care. If you are not enrolled yet, enrollment comes first — call 877-222-8387.
How often
An initial screening, then at least once every five years. If you answer that you do not know whether you were exposed, VA schedules you again a year later.
How to get one
It is often done during a primary care or specialty visit — but you can ask for it sooner. Ask your primary care team directly, or ask your facility for its Toxic Exposure Screening Navigator by name.
What it is not
It is not an exam for any specific illness, and it is not part of the disability claims process. It is optional, and declining it does not affect your health care or your benefits.
Why bother
It creates a dated VA record that you raised military exposure. Years later, that entry is evidence that the concern predated the diagnosis.
A civilian or community provider cannot perform this screening — it lives inside VA's own health record. If you only see a private doctor, that is a reason to enroll in VA health care as well.
The burn pit registry: you are probably already in it
Since August 1, 2024, VA and the Defense Department enroll eligible veterans and service members in the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry automatically, from deployment records. For most people there is nothing to sign up for.
Automatic enrollment covers service between August 2, 1990 and August 31, 2021 in the listed operations and locations — Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and New Dawn, the Southwest Asia theater, Egypt, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and the associated airspace and waters.
You do not need to have been knowingly exposed, and you do not need any current health problem, to be included.
If you enrolled yourself before the redesign, your enrollment carried over. There is nothing to redo.
To check your status, contact the Environmental Health Coordinator at your VA facility.
The registry holds deployment and demographic data only. No medical information is stored in it.
Participation is optional and you can opt out. Being in the registry is not required to file a claim, and it does not affect your eligibility for care or benefits either way.
Being in the registry is not evidence of exposure on its own, and it is not a claim. Treat it as a research tool, and do not let anyone tell you a claim depends on it.
What to take with you
- A one-page list of the chemicals and hazards you worked around, with the years and the base or ship
- Your job title and MOS or rating, written the way the military wrote it
- The symptoms that brought you in, and roughly when each one started
- Any breathing tests, blood work, or imaging you already have, including from civilian doctors
- A short list of what you want out of the visit — usually: document the exposure, order these tests, refer me
- Someone who has watched the change in you, if memory or breathing is the concern
Write your job title and the places you served at the top of that sheet, in the words the military used for it.
Before you leave, and afterward
- Ask for a copy of the visit note before you leave, and actually read it.
- Check that your exposure history is in the note. If it is missing, say so and ask for it to be added — politely, but ask.
- Get a copy of every test result, including the numbers, not just the word normal.
- Keep your own folder. Paper you hold is worth more than paper you assume exists somewhere.
- If a symptom persists after a normal test, go back. A normal result rules out some things, not everything.
The numbers, in one place
VET-HOME — VA's exposure team
833-633-8846
Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET
The number to call about a military environmental exposure specifically. VET-HOME books a free telehealth evaluation with a clinician trained in military exposures, and that clinician writes your exposure history into your VA record. Say you want a military environmental exposure assessment.
MyVA411 — VA main line
800-698-2411
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
The one number to call if you do not know who to call. Ask to be put through to your VA medical center's scheduling line, or press 0 for a person.
VA Health Benefits Hotline
877-222-8387
Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET
Enrolling in VA health care, health-care eligibility, VA medical bills, and community care billing.
Veterans Crisis Line
988, then press 1
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Any crisis, and you do not need to be enrolled in VA health care to use it. You can also text 838255.
My HealtheVet help desk
877-327-0022
Monday to Friday
Trouble signing in, secure messaging, or online scheduling.
VA Benefits Hotline
800-827-1000
Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET
Claims, ratings, and back pay — the benefits side rather than the medical side.
TTY
711
Relay service
If you are deaf or hard of hearing.
These are VA's own published lines. If a number ever gives you a runaround, MyVA411 at 800-698-2411 will transfer you — it is staffed every hour of every day.
Or reach out to us
Got the appointment. Now what does the record actually say?
Make the calls above first — they are free, they are yours, and nobody can make them for you. When you have the visit notes and the results in hand, that is the moment a second set of eyes is worth something. Albert Thombs, VA-Accredited Claims Agent #45147, reads the file for what VA will do with it: whether the exposure history is actually in the record, whether the exam request ever mentioned it, and where a denial is arguable.
Nothing on this page is medical advice, a diagnosis, or legal advice, and we are not the VA. Warning signs are not conditions — a clinician decides what is going on with you. Las Vegas, NV.