Qtc Exam Question

[Berta]

On Wednesdays SVR show Dr. Bash discussed the problems some vets have had in obtaining copies of their QTC C & P exam results from the VA before any RO decision has been made on their claim.He had another serious concern as to QTC reports that could reveal additional medical issues which might need immediate medical care. We are trying to find out why this is a problem.

Yesterday QTC told me that, once the exam is done by QTC and approved, it is sent to “ ExamTrack” (probably a VA PC program) and then uploaded to VA and this often takes only 3-4 weeks.At that point the exam is owned by the VA and QTC has no ability to release it themselves to any claimant.

Question:

Has anyone here had problems getting a copy of their QTC exam from the VA?

If so can you tell me what VA sent to you -as far as indicating a reason why they could not release the report?

Were you able, only after a decision had been made on your claim, to then obtain a copy of it?

Has anyone's vet rep here been able to obtain the QTC exam copy directly from VA for you?

[Berta]

I did a little research here and just found this:

“You can get a copy of the C&P from QTC like this.....

a week or two after your exam, contact your local VSO rep. If they have access to Virtual VA, QTC has to attach a copy of the exam results to the bill that they submitted to the VA. Your Rep can print the exam result from there. At least that is how it worked for me and I was able to get my results, I believe, much faster then most.

Travis “

Has anyone else here used this approach as well as Travis to obtain copy of your QTC exam?

[broncovet]

With the VA, its almost always about nepotism. With one particular "ROI" lady, that I had built a good rapport with, I got my medical records released pronto. With others, they usually promised to mail me the copies, after I signed a ROI form...then they never arrived.

[#1Cavtrooper]

I got a copy of my first Qtc C&P exam at the regional office shortly after the exam since I was there for TRP program twice a week in Houston. Until thursday, I haven't been down there since November. A 116 mile commute one way. I went to Varo front desk and she printed copy of my Qtc C&P exam right then.

Edited March 10, 2012 by #1Cavtrooper

[Berta]

Thanks for that info-

I have been talking to Dr. Bash about this issue but really havent seen too many problems mentioned by vets on the net about it lately.

When QTC started doing C & Ps years ago, there were problems if the vet went to their VAMC to try to get the exam but their VAMCs would not have the QTC exam and as you verified , you got at at the VA Regional Office.

The QTC person I spoke to told me they always direct vets with a QTC question about getting their exam to the 800#.

I will call 800# on Monday to see how they handle QTC exam questions from vets.

[Papa]

I have always wondered if the report that the QTC Doctor submits gets changed by the VA to suit their needs. One exam that I took just did not match what was on the report. Another exam, parkinson, was performed by a GP with no experience in this disease. He had to have an office worker to tell him how to do the exam. My wife thought the office worker was the doctor and the GP was in training.

It would usually take 2 to 3 months to get copies.

Papa

[Berta]

Papa

I have had made SOCs and SSOCs that parsed the C &P exam or simply were medically incorrect when compared to the actual exam.

As i mentioned here before years ago I was so angry at an SSOC that I called the C & P doc up and raised hell with him-only to find out -much to his surprise and mine,that the most critical evidence I had for that claim, a 6 page document that I had sent in multiple times because they failed to address it in prior SOCs and decisions-

had been deliberately withheld from him- and a year later the RO withheld it from the Office of General Counsel too.

We absolutely have to be proactive, and sometimes aggressive in getting our evidence read by the VAROs and only by having copies of the actual C & P reports,whether from QTC or VA, do we even have a chance to combat a negative decision if it is based on medical inaccuracies in the RO decision.

Dr. Bash mentioned something to me today- what if a QTC exam reveals breast cancer that should be medically treated right away.Say the vet didnt claim this and this was the first diagnosis of the cancer. It could certainly happen during the course of a C & P that other disabilities arise.

The exam then goes to the Regional Office but when does the veteran's PCP get it, and what triggers them to even follow up on it or does it just become part of the medical record stack that , as I well know from personal experience,

the PCPs often ignore. When does the vet even find out they have cancer?

NVLSP is reviewing my EED for my AO IHD claim.

When the lawyer called me she focused on the issue I had raised in my prior email to her.It falls under this same type of problem.

The VA ,although I proved my husband had IHD back to 1988, never diagnosed or treated him for it.

I found it all in the med recs from Bath VAMC and then discovered a cover up at Syracuse VAMC when I started asking too many questions.

VA at any point could have saved my husband's life over a 6 year period.

What surprised NVLSP and me was that the decision I got with IHD retro back to 1988 stated a VA exam in late Nov 1988 had revealed the heart disease but this exam was for my husband's PTSD.The VA had proposed to reduce his comp.

All I recall on that claim is AMVETS called us and the rep told me that VA had turned on the NOD I prepared and the check was in the mail (Rod had requested them (VA) to lower his comp immediately so that if he lost his appeal he woudnt have any overpayment. which he feared)

I never saw any rating sheet at all and dont even seem to have copy of the reinstated comp decision.His comp did go back up to where it had been.

My long point here is this is why these QTC exams or any C & P exam can be critical not only to a claim but even to the veteran's medical situation.

I wrote to the Nehmer RO last week to try to get copies of the documents they used for that 1988 exam.

This stuff doesnt happen often but when it does it could become a fatality. of a veteran.

VA did not acnowledge my husband's fatal heart disease in his lifetime, only doing that when I FTCAed them.

But someone apparently in 1988 at VA DID realize he had IHD, certainly within a time frame that shows his Stroke and his IHD death could have been averted.

and NVLSP sure wants to hear more on what I find out on that.

It is the C & P exam results that mainly controls our claims.

SOCs and SSOCs are not written by doctors, they are written by raters with as much medical backgrounds that most of us develop in working on our claims. If even close to that.

We must argue with medical evidence in responses to SOCs, SSOCs, to anything we disagree with as to disparaities between the SOC and the actual exam results.

And rebutt the exam results as well if they are speculative or medically inaccurate.

Or get a real doctor to do that for us ,with an IMO.