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VA C and P Exam – Do’s and Don’ts – VA Compensation Pension Exam

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VA C and P Exam – Do’s and Don’ts – VA Compensation Pension Exam

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The following is written from a VA Compensation and Pension Examiners perspective relating to psychiatric exams. It is a good guideline for all exams but I only did psych exams. I’ve been examined by the VA for multiple problems and this is my format when I go to be examined. A little common sense and clarity ...
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Hey, how come VA does not allow the veteran to see the exam results when it is done by an outside contractor. I have experienced that after the fact an examiner has lied or has not done an adequate exam , and VA makes it's decision off a faulty exam. The veteran is not given time to refute the information. Then it gets on the VA hamster wheel for 5 to 10 years or the poor veteran dies before a decision is made.VA talks about transparency why not allow the veteran to be able to log into e-benefits to see the results and refute it at the same  time, rather than have to do a FIOA, that takes months to complete.

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I have been griping about that for years-------

There is more to this Contractor stuff then meets the eye-

Is your VA PCP doctor a VA employe or a contracted doctor?

I posted a link to where you can find out ,in the main forum.

Everything you stated is true-

That is why more veterans have to complain to the White House Hot Line:

1-855-948-2311

And/or file a formal complaint ,on line, with the VA Accountability Office and Whistle Blower Protection (OAWB)

https://www.va.gov/accountability/

I mentioned this crap already to OAWB but they are looking into something far different than that-due to my formal complaint- 

I will be preparing an additional complaint this week on the C & P situation, with some evidence from GAO-

but I am a civilian , it will take hearing from veterans themselves to ever begin to alter this very unfair situation.

Your post summed it up very well.

As a widow all Posthumous C & P exams on my husband were done by VA doctors at VAMCs.

Except one I filed an IRIS complaint on- done in 2015.

Someone from my VARO called me aout it and said they" already picked" someone to do it right away.

I do not believe that 'someone' had any medical knowledge at all. I think the VA lackey for their director prepared it.

It caused a denial that they immediatey reversed to a award, however the EED is wrong- have CUE on that .

However I had to file a IRIS complaint because first VA verified they had my request for the actual C & P exam.

Then they said I never sent in any request. This is the same BS I have had to put up with over the past 24 years.

The rhetoric from th exam in the denial is bad enough- but ,as I learned in 1997, the actual C & P exam might well be far different from what the RO says it says. (or maybe there was no actual C & P exam in my case, and my evidence fully outweighed it , they listed it as received and in the denial, but the 'examiner' probably could not read it-it was from the VA's top cardio doctor.)

We have no Discovery rights, as within a civil case, and that is how VA gets away with this stuff.

For vets who get a denial based on a contracted exam , they might well need a costly IMO from a real doctor and they are not given enough  time to do that or even find a way to pay for an IMO/IME.

A good IMO/IME doctor would want to have the C & P exam results , to fully prepare a strong IMO/IME.

And the C & P exam might not have even been done by someone with any expertise at all in the field of the disability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for your responses. There needs to be some way these veterans groups can force the VA to allow veterans to see their C&P exams the same time the regional office sees them. Why not make them accessable on e-benefits rather than try to keep the results a secret or the veteran has to jump through hoops to get a copy. I am concerned mainly because I have had 4 C&P exams for diabetes in the last 30 days one by an internal medicine doc one by a general practice doc one by a VA nurse practitioner and one by an outside nurse practitioner. I would like to be able to see what each of them said, to be able to refute it if it is not in my favor. Why so many C&P exams for the same thing by 4 different medical professionals?

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"Why so many C&P exams for the same thing by 4 different medical professionals?"

If they all worked for the VA, maybe the exams were favorable and VA was seeking a lousy one-

But what did the outside VA exam say- did you rewuest that or did the VA?

I hate to be so pessimistic but VA pulls a lot of crap on us all.

Or possibly they confirmed the diabetes but maybe you had secondary issues claimed as well?

I had a DMII claim, as widow of a veteran-The VA found an Endocrinologist to do the posthumous C & P exam.

My IMO doc ( Dr.Craig Bash- Neuro-radiologist) knocked that down and I also rebutted it ,with evidence, due to  some of the 'facts' she made up.

The VARO ignored my IMO and rebuttal and rendered another C& P exam after I raised hell ,  and my IMO doc pointed out how this exam, from the same Endo, was "medically inaccurate", my RO ignored that additional IMO as well.

I waited to get to the BVA=-I was at AMU at the time and couldn't deal with VA much-I was dealing with a very demanding Marine Corps  Major -my main Professor.

I asked BVA for a remand because my VCAA letter was illegal.

They remanded instead because I also had a third brief IMO that supported the claim-that my RO ignored.

They ordered a cardio opinion. I got a PA opinion and rebutted it myself.

The BVA then (faster then I expected) sent me their decision.

They agreed my VCAA rights had been violated but considered that as a moot issue because they had awarded the claim. They gave no weight at all to the PA opinion and agreed with me it was too speculative.

These days I would have hit them with a CUE -I have had faster results with CUE since-

My long point is this ( and you are right-this C & P situation has to stop) -I have posted NVLSP's recent take on the recent GAO report on this, somewhere under a search.

Veterans have to start making a big stink about it. to the WH ( Hot line ),to OAWB, to their vet orgs, to the H & S Subcommittees on VA  Disability , and  to anyone who will listen.

C & Ps- I was on the Prodigy Veterans BBS system in the late 1990s and one member was a former BVA lawyer.

He made the point many times that vets MUST fight back on anything wrong in their C & P exam results because the VA, without any input from the vet ,will consider the vet has accepted the C & P exam as factual.

I hope some lawyer will consider filing a class action on this problem-I already contacted the best law firm I know on that, but have not heard back.

Lawsuits involve damages-and any vet or survivor who is forced into obtaining a costly IMO/IME-

(usually the first time any real doctor has ever read their entire medical record, and the IMO/ IME opinion awards the claim)

-has been damaged by the expense of an IMO/IME simply because the C & P doctors, PAs, Nurses do not always have the expertise they need to opine on many claims that get denied.Or they might  have the ability to opine but might google for any medical way to deny what might well be an obvious SC claim.

I cant believe I have been on line at Prodigy, (and  in the late 1980-s at Vet link-, with  Stars and Stripes, Mil.Com, and 

then here for 2 decades and veterans are still putting up with the C & P BS- knowing that if they have the nexus they need, it is still the C & P exam that will deny or award the claim.

Also as I learned, the actual C & P might be different from what the VA states it says in a SOC.We all need the actual exam results that should be either in ebenefits or attached to the decisions they send.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Berta
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I'm attempting to get my recent C&P exam records as well.  The Release of Records office at my local VA facility told me yesterday that I would have to contact the Regional Counsel's office for records of any contractor C&P's performed this year.  If it was prior to 2018, then maybe the local records office could do it.  Apparently this was due to a change in policy this year.

No number was listed for contacting the VARO Counsel, so I called the VARO operator a few times yesterday and left voicemails with a handful of people in the counsel's office.  No call backs yet.  The District Counsel's office numbers are listed on the main VA website, so I might give them a call in a day or two if I don't get a local response in the meantime.

I've read conflicting stories about when the records should be available.  Seems like some vets have been able to get them quickly, but perhaps more recently, vets are being told they have to wait until the claim is decided.

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