diabetes Va Fl 04-06

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NOTE:

VA Fast Letter 04-06.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Veterans Benefits Administration

Washington, D.C. 20420

April 12, 2004

Director (00/21)

All VA Regional Offices

In Reply Refer To: 211A

Fast Letter 04-06

SUBJ: Procedure for Manual Review of Claims Files to Award Earlier Effective Date Pursuant to Liesegang, et al. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Background Information

On December 10, 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision in the case of Liesegang et al. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The Court held that the correct effective date for the regulation adding type II diabetes to the herbicide presumptive list is May 8, 2001 instead of July 9, 2001. As a result of this decision, we issued an automatic one-time adjustment to 9,340 veterans granting an earlier payment date of June 1, 2001. For each adjusted case, a notice to the claimant, POA, and RO was issued. In order to comply with the decision in Liesegang, an additional 4,680 cases must be reviewed manually.

This letter provides additional information and instructions for review of those claims.