Timeframe For Rating Decision

[deyjason]

Can anyone give me a general timeframe in which a rating decision can be expected after nexus has been established, medical evidence collected, and C&P exam completed and results recieved?

[CRYPTOTECH]

Hi, I saw something in your reply that surprised me. You said that you called the claimant and talking to him/her while you were granting their claim. I have never heard of raters calling claimants and informing them of grants and how much retro they are getting. I usually would expect the Representative to do that, not an actual rater. I guess it shows you are going above and beyond your call of duty.......

Jay

Not sure which Regional Office you are dealing with, but your answers on here will vary greatly for that question. I know that in the RO where I work that our raters are scraping for claims that are "ready to rate". The decisions on smaller claims (1-3 issues) are usually done the day they hit the board. Larger claims (4+ issues) are taking a bit longer, but they are still not taking much more than a few days to a week to get a decision.

That is not always the case, however. It will pick up to the point that the raters take all of 60 days to render a decision. There have been a couple of new "pilot programs" that have recently been dropped on some of us or all of us developing cases (diagnostic code criteria and claimant checklists) that have eaten away at our time significantly in getting a case to the board.

Right now I am working "new" claims from Mid-December... I do have some older claims, but the number of those is about 25 right now, and they are claims "in progress". My overall number of claims right now is around 60 that are "new".

After the rating board decides your claim the representatives (VSO's) take a look at it to concur the decision. That can take up to a week or more. The claim then has to be promulgated, and the award is done (if any).

I worked an award last Wednesday, checked up on it today, and the money had already been sent out vis Direct Deposit. The veteran also has a brand new claim in as of Monday. That also slows things down a bit as I had just talked to him on the phone last Wednesday when I did his award. He was ecstatic about it ($14, 000+ retro and an increase from 30 to 80 percent).

Times will vary...I hope you are able to find out soon.

[BD Webb]

I have went before comp and eval dr, paperwork sent to va for percentage. How long will that take before I get my first check?

[Pete53]

60 to 90 days if no problems

[Chuck75]

60 to 90 days if no problems

The C&P may make it into to your records in that time frame. Anything beyond that is up for grabs.

There is a great deal of variation within one VAMC/VARO, and just as much from one to another. I was told that since my recent C&P was given at the "local" VAMC, the results should be in my medical records quite soon. On the other side of the coin, the VARO may take it's own sweet time to render a decision. Something that bothered me was that the C&P examiner was not a doctor, (what else is new), and basically was doing not much more than a records check and calling for updated lab tests. Since the primary active claim is for IHD, and an additional claim(s) is/are for an increase (as they treat it, right or wrong), it's going to get interesting! If nothing else, I'll likely get into a battle over the effective dates, as the original claim dates back several years, and was denied and an NOD filed.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Chuck75

[Commander Bob]

Can anyone give me a general time frame in which a rating decision can be expected after nexus has been established, medical evidence collected, and C&P exam completed and results received?

My rating decision arrived around 90 days from the C&P exam.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Commander Bob

[BD Webb]

UPDATE: My rating decision was completed on June 15. It is with the reviewer. What is the timeline on that? I am just trying to figure out when I should receive my letter as my house burned down, but I still get mail there. We are in an emergency apartment, and believe me, it is not where I want to be. It's crazy here.