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MarkInTexas

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Has anybody out there had any dealings with a company called Veterans Evaluation Services? Apparently, the VA has contracted with them to perform C&P examinations and testing on veterans. I see from their website that they are apparently headquartered near Houston.

I was called yesterday (Saturday) by a representative of this company (called me from a Tennessee telephone number) who advised me to call an 877 number on Monday to schedule my C&P examination. He did not know what conditions I was being examined for. (I have several, but tons of medical documentation on a few). He was polite, and told me that he simply didn't know, but that I would learn more on Monday when I called the number.

He further advised that his company was also contracting with "local" doctors to administer the examinations, and that I might not even have to drive to Houston. I'm still not sure what he means by local. I'm 2 hours from the VAMC in Houston.

Any information about this company and its services would be appreciated. And better still, any veterans that used them during their C&P process have good/bad experiences? Any advice would help me.

I'll try to post more tomorrow after I make the call to them to schedule. Have a great week.

Mark

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OK, here's a quick update of my first C&P examination using the Veterans Evaluation Services contractor. First, prior to going, I got two or three calls from VES personnel confirming my appointment date(s). I had one today, and will have another one on this next Tuesday. They confirmed with me yesterday, and told me that they will call again Monday to confirm the next one.

I showed up early, and waited in the waiting room until they called me back to sign in and confirm my identity. That went quickly, and I was led back to the examination room to meet with the Doctor. Lot's of questions pretty straight off the VA's questionaire.

After all was said and done, the Doctor told me that he was going to note that due to my military history, it was at least as likely as not that my condition was caused by my military service. He was a nice guy, and took time to talk to me about my life, my work ability and how I dealt with things day to day. Very professional, but calming.

I guess when you get down to it, they keys is the phrase, "due to my military history, it was at least as likely as not that my condition was caused my my military service."

What do you folks think? Do I have a green light to move forward to another step, or is it just a yellow caution light?

Thanks again,

Mark

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OK, here's a quick update of my first C&P examination using the Veterans Evaluation Services contractor. First, prior to going, I got two or three calls from VES personnel confirming my appointment date(s). I had one today, and will have another one on this next Tuesday. They confirmed with me yesterday, and told me that they will call again Monday to confirm the next one.

I showed up early, and waited in the waiting room until they called me back to sign in and confirm my identity. That went quickly, and I was led back to the examination room to meet with the Doctor. Lot's of questions pretty straight off the VA's questionaire.

After all was said and done, the Doctor told me that he was going to note that due to my military history, it was at least as likely as not that my condition was caused by my military service. He was a nice guy, and took time to talk to me about my life, my work ability and how I dealt with things day to day. Very professional, but calming.

I guess when you get down to it, they keys is the phrase, "due to my military history, it was at least as likely as not that my condition was caused my my military service."

What do you folks think? Do I have a green light to move forward to another step, or is it just a yellow caution light?

Thanks again,

Mark

Did he have a copy of your records there, that you know of?

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Carlie, it was kind of interesting. He had a laptop open on his desk, and logged into to some account, asked me a couple of questions to "find me", turned the laptop toward me to see how he was logging in and clicking on my name.

When he found me, he pulled up a screen with a lot of the information I had submitted. Looked like a constant scrolling group of PDF files or something. By this time, he had moved it back in front of him to go back to typing and filling fields. He did mention a couple of times that he was reading some of my medical records, and also said once that he was having trouble viewing my military medical records.

He was doing a lot of scrolling up and down, filling blanks, and scrolling back up. When I would mention a secondary condition, he would scroll up and type something else, then back. I know he mentioned remarks field a few times as well.

But to answer your question, yes, I think he had some online access to my file.

Ever encountered this? And what do you think so far?

Mark

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One more question. I know I'm probably being a pest, but....... My next C&P is scheduled for Tuesday, August 14th. It is for a tinnitus and hearing examination at the VES contracted location. Now I have already had a private examination done at a profossional audilology center close to home, and I submitted the results, along with an IMO letter from the audiologist at the center,which shows bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.

Do you think that the VA just ignored this evidence completely, or felt that they wanted one of their contracted people to check me out and do an examination to confirm the results? Any thoughts?

Have a great weekend.

Mark

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I think when it comes to hearing tests - the VA does things differently and requires a specific type test be followed .....kinda like they don't "accept" on face value an initial diagnosis of PTSD from a an outside provider...they'll look at it....but they will require the vet to get tested by one of their docs = a C&P.

Have you been able to compare your private examination to the rating schedule for hearing loss set by the VA - the charts confused the heck out of me at first, but I finally figured it out.

The "speech discrimination" is critical to the rating. Here's where you can see how they rate hearing loss...you'll have to scroll down to the appropriate heading and charts: http://www.hadit.com/forums/index.php?/forum/101-38...4...rating-disabilities/

Here's what it says under DBQ's in regards to this:

Q: Which DBQs are not available for use by private providers?

A: There are no DBQs for the following medical examinations:

  • Initial Examination for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Hearing Loss and Tinnitus
  • Residuals of Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Cold Injury Residuals
  • Prisoner of War Examination Protocol
  • Gulf War Medical Examination
  • General Medical Examination for Compensation Purposes
  • General Medical Examination for Pension Purposes

Q: Why are those DBQs not available for public use?

A: VA has determined that the examinations required to complete those DBQs either require specialized training, specialized equipment, or specialized testing generally not available through private providers or, if these examinations are available, the cost to the Veteran would be so great as to render the DBQ cost-prohibitive. For these reasons, VA has determined that it is in the Veteran’s best interest to still require these examinations to be conducted by a VA clinician.

Edited by USMC5811
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USMC, thanks. That gives a good explanation. My audiologist provided me with copies of audiology examination (had little graph charts, x's, and declining lines.....I'm not an audiologist and that's what it all looks like to me.) She also provided me with a detailed IMO letter, all of which I submitted via VONAPP, and then as a hard copy via U.S. Mail to the Houston VARO.

There were no DBQ's involved in this one. This is probably why the VA wants to have one of their people conduct the tests. She had written that good old phrase, "at least as likely as not that my tinnitus and hearing loss had developed due to my military service," so I hope I can get the same result from the VA examiner. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks again for the advice and information.

Mark

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