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Ao-Ep681 Nehmer Claims Moving Quickly!

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I just took a look at the VA spreadsheets published every Monday for workload on claims.

The good news is that they are zipping thru the backlog of EP681 claims for AO.

From the data, they posted, it looks like they will be finishing the EP681 by the 1st of April or so.

This will allow them to tackle the bigger job of the EP687 backlog.

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what is ep681 and ep687 mean?

681 and 687 and 405 are VA end products. VA currently lists NONE of these end products as being over 125 days old. This is based on the fact the VA established these end products as of November and December. Obviously the claims are in excess of 124 days but the end products are not, at this time.

Vietnam Veterans and survivors who were previously denied service-connection (between September 1985 and end of month September 2010) are listed as end product 687.

An additional number of new claims have been received since the Secretary announced his intention to add three new conditions to the presumptive list on 13 October 2009. These claims submitted from October 2009 until the final regulation was passed on 31 October 2010 are listed in end product 681.

All of these claims (681 and 687) must be adjudicated/re-adjudicated in order to comply with the Final Nehmer Stipulation. This is why you will hear about or see a claim as being "RATE REVIEW". If during the rate review the VA finds nothing in the claim file that "could" be a claim that was previously denied or some how not processed under Nehmer will remain in the 681 end product and go on to regular claims processing. Generally the retro pay will go back to the date the claim was filed but not before October 2009.

IF during the Rate Review the VA finds "something" in the 681 end product that "could" be a possible "old" claim or an item that could be processed as a Nehmer then the 681 is changed to the end product 687. ALL 687 claims require additional follow up by the VA as generally it means there is an "old" issue that needs to be resolved/addressed. The retro pay on a 687 claim "could" go back to September 1985, depending when a claim is found to have been made but denied.

A 405 end product is a claim made AFTER 1 November 2010, unless during a rate review the VA finds out something and it could change the end product to 681 or 687.

Note: This info was copied and pasted from another Veteran Help WEB site.

Edited by N4XV
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The VAROs themselves were supposed to identify any past denied claim from a Vietnam veteran that could fall under the new regs for Nehmer AOs and then contact NVLSP (by adding the veteran or widow to the potential Nehmer list.)

In my case they (VARO Buffalo) didnt put me on the Nehmer list. NVLSP has me on their list however because I contacted them right away.

I posted ere many times and it bears repeating-if you are Vietnam, vet or survivor f Vietnam vet ( which coud be next of kin if the veteran's spouse is dead) and the VA denied in the past for a disability that is now on the AO list (or can be construed as the same disability) then please contact NVLSP via their web site and answer the questions they ask there.

Although the RO didnt put me on their Nehmer list they did pulled my CUE claim from a transfer stack to BVA and sent that to the Nehmer people. That claim mentions cardiovascular disease ,which is also deemed as IHD.

The VARO failed however to pull out a past denied IHD claim I had.

Through exchange of emails with NVLSP and attachments, they have all documents that show I am under Nehmer and the Phila VSM verified that via IRIS.

I think because VAROs did not identify and contact some Nehmer vets and widows (due to past denials under a new AO condition) and due to

fact these new presumptives were not big national news headlines- I think that this is why we are seeing more and more Nehmer claims as vets and widows find out about the new regs.

Chck is always right on the mark regarding these claims and e posted :

"If you happen to be a Vietnam Veteran, and believe that you may be a class member, you should contact the class action consul.

The reason is that if and when they obtain enough evidence that the VA is not in compliance with the court order, they can go back to court, and ask that the VA be compelled to comply, and it's even remotely possible to have the court find the VA in contempt."

Correct. The Nehmer raters were intensively trained and they cannot make any major errors or the VA can be sanctioned.

NVLSP,once you get a decision, wants a follow up email from you to make sure the decision is correct as to the retro.

I will find their email addy again-and post it

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http://www.nvlsp.org/Information/ArticleLibrary/AgentOrange/AO-VABeginsReview.htm

It is best to email them through their addy in this article.

There are a few questions they ask. It might take time for them to reply and possibly ask for more info.

In my case I had to briefly explain my CUE claim and why they sent it to Nehmer people in Phila RO and I also attached a prior BVA decision denying a claim I had for PTSD causing heart disease.I had to explain the 1151 claim and the FTCA case too.

This contact with NVLSP does not ensure that any AO claim has succeeded.Only medical evidence will do that.

My most recent NVLSP response is:

"Dear Ms. Simmons:

Thank you for your emails and for informing us about the progress of your claim. We are in receipt of the email attachments as well. Once we receive a copy of the new decision on your claim from the VA, we will review it to ensure that the VA assigns the correct effective date for your IHD benefits. We will contact you about the results of our review at that time. Please let us know if your contact information changes.

Sincerely,

Allison Monyei

Staff Attorney*

National Veterans Legal Services Program

agentorange@nvlsp.org <mailto:agentorange@nvlsp.org> "

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681 and 687 and 405 are VA end products. VA currently lists NONE of these end products as being over 125 days old. This is based on the fact the VA established these end products as of November and December. Obviously the claims are in excess of 124 days but the end products are not, at this time.

Vietnam Veterans and survivors who were previously denied service-connection (between September 1985 and end of month September 2010) are listed as end product 687.

An additional number of new claims have been received since the Secretary announced his intention to add three new conditions to the presumptive list on 13 October 2009. These claims submitted from October 2009 until the final regulation was passed on 31 October 2010 are listed in end product 681.

All of these claims (681 and 687) must be adjudicated/re-adjudicated in order to comply with the Final Nehmer Stipulation. This is why you will hear about or see a claim as being "RATE REVIEW". If during the rate review the VA finds nothing in the claim file that "could" be a claim that was previously denied or some how not processed under Nehmer will remain in the 681 end product and go on to regular claims processing. Generally the retro pay will go back to the date the claim was filed but not before October 2009.

IF during the Rate Review the VA finds "something" in the 681 end product that "could" be a possible "old" claim or an item that could be processed as a Nehmer then the 681 is changed to the end product 687. ALL 687 claims require additional follow up by the VA as generally it means there is an "old" issue that needs to be resolved/addressed. The retro pay on a 687 claim "could" go back to September 1985, depending when a claim is found to have been made but denied.

A 405 end product is a claim made AFTER 1 November 2010, unless during a rate review the VA finds out something and it could change the end product to 681 or 687.

Note: This info was copied and pasted from another Veteran Help WEB site.

The information you cut & pasted is pretty close to being accurate except for the following which is my case and I'm sure many others.

I first filed in 2008 and was denied for AO/IHD and a NOD has been filed by me. That would make my claim a EP687 according to your post.

However, I refiled in 2010 and my new claim is listed as EP681.

No action has been taken on my old claim since it is one of many issues in NOD status and may or may not be counted in the EP687 tally. But the claim listed as EP681 is being rated by the Nehmer team as of now in Waco.

The claim number EP681 will stay the same.

The EED will go back to at least 2008 and maybe further due to the prior claim.

An interesting part of all this is that the tally for EP687 may be inaccurate if they are adding in claims like mine twice, one for each EP database. Of course on the other end, both databases will go down one number each for the completed claim.

In any event I am on pins and needles waiting for the decision. It was sent to the rating team on 1/24/2011 in Waco.

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what is ep681 and ep687 mean?

Sp4RVN,

These are internal VA end product codes.

These are not pertinent to most of what we, as vets need to know about fighting

for our claim issues to get awarded.

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