manning01

wfdyer Welcome also and see your a local PHX Vet also. Yes be prepaired for a long wait when I put in my NOD and I asked for a informal conference not a hearing I was told the same thing it's a long wait. I see the Phoenix RO has over 5,464 apeals in waiting as of Sept 16th on the monday morning report. The appeal backlog just keeps getting bigger and bigger each week especially since these provisional claims are being done with all the denials the appeals are just going to explode in numbers. I swear the VA hopes we either give up or die so they let these DRO's reviews sit for years. They are reduceing the compensation claim numbers but it seams Appeals/DRO reviews are just sitting stagnant since they don't have to answer to congress on those compaired to the compensation claims side. BG (ret) Hickey should be happy the VSR's ect are busting thier butts to make her look good so she doesn't lose her VA SES job.

Same here I hope you get some good news from the VA. Hopefully ebenfits will be updated in a few days so you know your results.

Thank you Harleyman! I wish I knew this stuff a year ago it would have saved a lot of worrying on the not recieved stuff etc in ebenfits. As always thank you for sharing your in depth knowledge of the VA it sure is a great benefit to all of us here on the confusing VA system we deal with.

I was wondering is it very wise to go to my Urology Surgeon and have him complete a DBQ and would the DRO consider that DBQ as some new evidence??? My surgeon did an IMO (very good one) and he even used some of the research papers he has done on Kidney Cancer causes and treatment. But the VA Dr didn't look at it and the rater dismissed it over the VA C&P Dr's half baked research on the internet. I just don't understand why the VARO would take the unqualified opinion of an 72 year old Internal Medicine Dr over a highly trained Urology Surgeon and even was rated Top Doc in Urology in the Phoenix area for the last 5 years. I also submitted new evidence showing I was on Air National Guard Active Duty orders within the one year that my claim was filed (for presumptive service connection within one year). I sent those orders into the VARO with in a week after they asked for it but didn't use it for the final decision. So much for 30 days. Just blows my mind.....

Go to the VA at this address: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/registry_exam.asp then click on the Environmental Health Coordinator link near the top. It will take you to all the VA Gulf War environmental coordinators in all states with their email address and phones numbers at the Hospitals. Call the coordinator directly to set up your GW registry exam I did it that way and had no issues at all. Also see the attached VA borchure it will help too. JM Here is the direct link to the registry coordinators: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/coordinators.asp registry-evaluation-brochure1.pdf

Thanks JC I really value your input on this especially since we have the same RO to deal with. Did you think having your VSO present really made any difference?

Copy that I'll ask for a Formal hearing. Man I almost made a huge mistake thanks for the info ASKNOD!!!!!

Hi JC I'll send in that letter on Monday. I was thinking on asking for an informal meeting and not having my VSO there I really don't think he can add any value to it. Did you have a formal or informal and did he do it in an office or a formal hearing room? I really want to go over the documents they have and explain to them the 5 errors line by line the first rater made and how the evidence IMO's etc I have supports it.

I just sent in a NOD on the new NOD form 21-0958 along with a 21-4138 with a complete list of my disagreements to each statement they made for denial on my one item claim decided in Dec 2012. I included some new evidence to support each of my arguements. On the new NOD form I stated I wanted it to be handled by DRO review. It just showed up in ebennies a few days ago, wow only 4 days I submitted it to the Phoenix VARO. But will the VA still send me a letter in 30 days to again state I want a DRO review even though I asked for it on the NOD? Also do I need to send in anouther 21-4138 and state I want to request an informal conference with the DRO per M21-1MR, Part I, Chapter 5, Section C or will the DRO do that automatically in the next year or so? I don't want the NOD sitting around which I know it will for a long time but I thought if I ask for the informal conference now it would push them to get it on the schedule for one.

I know I believe in it my first FDC in Dec 2012 only took 109 days and my final claim also a FDC in April 2013 only took 44 days. Quick and easy when you submit everything up front including the DBQ/private Dr exam so you don't even have to do the dreaded VA C&P exam. I recieved the two ratings at the right % I should have I'm very happy with it. (Phoenix AZ RO)

I seen that too today, here is the article straight from the VA on it. This just doesn't seem right but when is anything fair or right with the VA..... http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2464 VA Grants up to One Year Retroactive Benefits for Veterans Filing Fully Developed Claims to Help Reduce the Backlog August 1, 2013 New Benefit Takes Effect August 6 for First-Time Filers WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that Veterans filing an original Fully Developed Claim (FDC) for service-connected disability compensation may be entitled to up to one-year of retroactive disability benefits. The retroactive benefits, which are in effect Aug. 6, 2013, through Aug. 5, 2015, are a result of a comprehensive legislative package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last year. “VA strongly encourages Veterans to work with Veterans Service Organizations to file Fully Developed Claims and participate in this initiative, since it means more money in eligible Veterans’ pockets simply by providing VA the information it needs up front,” said Allison A. Hickey, Under Secretary for Benefits. “At the same time, it helps reduce the inventory of pending claims by speeding the process.” Filing an FDC is typically the fastest way for Veterans to receive a decision on their claims because Fully Developed Claims require Veterans to provide all supporting evidence in their possession when they submit their claims. Often, this is evidence that VA legally must attempt to collect on the Veteran’s behalf, which is already in the Veteran’s possession, or is evidence the Veteran could easily obtain, like private treatment records. When Veterans submit such evidence with their claims, it significantly reduces the amount of time VA spends gathering evidence from them or other sources -- often the longest part of the claims process. While VA will still make efforts to obtain federal records on the Veterans’ behalf, the submittal of non-federal records (and any federal records the Veteran may have) with the claim allows VA to issue a decision to the Veteran more quickly. Typically, VA processes FDCs in half the time it takes for a traditionally filed claim. FDCs can be filed digitally through the joint, DoD-VA online portal, eBenefits (www.ebenefits.va.gov). VA encourages Veterans who cannot file online to work with an accredited Veterans Service Organization (VSO) who can file claims digitally on Veterans’ behalf. While submitting an FDC provides a faster decision for any compensation or pension claim, only Veterans who are submitting their very first compensation claim as an FDC are potentially eligible for up to one-year of retroactive disability benefits under the newly implemented law. FDCs help eliminate VA’s claims backlog because they increase production of claims decisions and decrease waiting times. Also, VA assigns FDCs a higher priority than other claims which means Veterans receive decisions to their claim faster than traditional claims. VA continues to prioritize other specific categories of claims, including those of seriously wounded, terminally ill, Medal of Honor recipients, former Prisoners of War, the homeless and those experiencing extreme financial hardship. As part of its drive to eliminate the claims backlog in 2015, VA also gives a priority to claims more than a year old. In May, VA announced a new partnership with Veterans Service Organizations and others known as the “Community of Practice,” an effort that seeks to reduce the compensation claims backlog for Veterans by increasing the number of FDCs filed by Veterans and their advocates. VA is continuing to implement several initiatives to meet the Department’s goal to eliminate the claims backlog in 2015. In May, VA announced that it was mandating overtime for claims processors in its 56 regional benefits offices to increase production of compensation claims decisions through the end of FY 2013. In April, VA launched an initiative to expedite disability compensation claims decisions for Veterans who have a waited a year or longer As a result of these initiatives, VA’s total claims inventory remains at lower levels not seen since August 2011. The number of claims in the VA backlog – claims pending over 125 days – has been reduced by 17 percent compared to the highest point in March 2013. Veterans can learn more about disability benefits on the joint Department of Defense—VA web portal eBenefits at www.ebenefits.va.gov, and the FDC program at www.benefits.va.gov/fdc/.

If it was like me they rated what they could to get you a rating on those. Once that is done it goes back to gather evidence on the ones they didn't have enough to rate on. In your letter that comes in the brown envelope it will tell you what they rated and which ones they deferred for further development/processing. I'm assuming a lot of these provisional decisions they are doing are going to be like that. Congrats on the 80%!!!!

My 2 cents worth is management is only concerned about the stats and how it will affect their upcoming bonuses and a possible pay cut for them. If they get the claim backlog down they will get thier bonuses and no pay cut that's all they care about is about them selves and sure not us. Not like us DOD civilian employees after three 3 years of no pay raises, multiple scares of gov't shutdown etc now we are furloughed and take a 20% pay cut till the end of September. A recent article in Government Exec yesterday states this about the VA senior execs. http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2013/07/va-senior-exec-pay-2014-uncertain/67133/?oref=top-story Congressional conferees probably will have to iron out differences between the two chambers related to the pay and bonuses of employees at the Veterans Affairs Department. The current Senate version of the fiscal 2014 Military Construction-VA spending bill does not include a pay cut for senior officials if the department fails to make progress on the disability claims backlog, or prohibit performance awards for high-ranking employees. The Senate Appropriations Committee reported out its bill on June 20, and the full Senate could vote on final passage by the end of July. The House version of that spending bill, however, imposes a 25 percent pay cut on VA senior executives unless the department substantially reduces its backlog by next summer. The provision, offered as an amendment by Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., limits the pay of those officials to 75 percent of their salary from July 1, 2014 to Sept. 30, 2014, “unless as of July 1, 2014 the percentage of disability compensation claims that are more than 125 days old is less than or equal to 40 percent.” The House passed the bill on June 4. VA reported as of July 13 that it had 797,804 pending disability claims, 65.1 percent of which were older than 125 days. The backlog topped 900,000 in March so the department in April announced that it would fast-track disability claims from vets who have been waiting a year or longer for benefits. Last month VA reported that it eliminated 97 percent, or more than 65,000 claims, more than two years old from the backlog. The House fiscal 2014 Military Construction-VA Appropriations Act also prohibits the VA secretary from handing out performance awards to senior executives in 2014; that language is not in the Senate version. If the Senate approves the current version without those pay-related provisions, then lawmakers will have to resolve the difference in conference committee. Both versions of the spending bill include language prohibiting the use of funds to pay for more than 50 employees to attend any single conference outside of the United States.

Mil T I just sent you a PM check your message inbox.

For me the only future C&P I have scheduled in the future for now in 5 years is my one for Migraine Headaches that was just SC in April 2013. I asked the RO this week and it's scheduled for 1 April 2018 in the system due to it's a rating for 50% and requires a 5 year evaluation after initial award. My other 10% for tinnitus, 30% IBS (Presumptive Iraq), 40% PTSD none of those have any scheduled exams in their system or references to requiring a future exam due to the likelihood for improvement that is in any of my decision paperwork. But that's in my case....

Anytime, glad I could help in some way a fellow vet. There are lots of vets on here with tons of great knowledge and it sure helped me, I just wished I found this site two years earlier. I wish you all the luck in your claim and please keep us updated. Thank you for your service sir.

This what I did to simplify it. When I had the doctor fill out the DBQ I had him make a copy for their records and he handed me the original before I left the Dr's office. No way I was going to trust it being faxed in like it says on the form. If you do it online your 21-526EZ is done in the VONAPP system in Ebenefits it walks you through it to fill it out. You upload your 21-4138, DBQ, DR IMO if needed and any outside medical documents during the online claim process and then certify it's all your going to give them and your done and it's a breeze. Then you get a email saying they recieved in within minutes with a reciept number and you can view it like any other claim in ebenefits. I did that and in Phoenix my two FDC's were done in 111 days and the last in 45 days. The 45 days one was finished just 2 weeks ago so they are still working FDC's on a priority basis like they say they are. Now if you have them do a C&P if you can't get a DBQ filled out that could be a wait since they are working all those 2 yr + claims and they are doing C&P's like crazy atleast here in Phoenix. Now if you mail it in do the same thing just make sure you copy all your documents in case they lose them and very important use the most current version of the 21-526EZ. They can make it difficult if they want to just for that using the wrong version of the form it should be dated at the bottom Jan 2013 which (SUPERSEDES VA FORM 21-526EZ, AUG 2011,WHICH WILL NOT BE USED). Either way send everything you need for the FDC with it and let it sit and wait.

Congratulations on the increase!

Thanks for let us know for us OIF vets exposed to the burn pits in OIF. Hopefully this will be one more tool to make known our medical issues from those burn pits (they say is not caused by them) once they impliment this registry

I have done two FDC's online through VONAPP one took 111 days and the last only 45 days both I recieved the proper rating for my conditions so I've been happy with the FDC program. Better than waiting 2 1/2 years on my first claim from 2010. Anyways both time I had my own doctors fill out the DBQ's and subitted all my medical history documents from them so that really shortened the wait time. If you can't get a doctor to fill one out then the VA will schedule you for a C&P and they will fill it out. It won't affect your claim being processed as a FDC if the VA needs to do the DBQ it just slows it down a little for them to do the exam. Just don't submit anything after you file the FDC and state you have noting else to submit to the VA (leave it alone). If you submit anything after the received date online (Vonapp) or in the mail room if you mail it in your claim will be removed from the FDC program and end up as a normal claim. Just my 2 cents worth if you can get the DBQ done by a doctor outside the VA do it.

I did an online FDC through VONAPP to the Phoenix RO on April 15th 2013 and mine was done last week and recieved retro etc so 45 days. I heard on here that some RO's are taking up to 6 months for FDC's but the norm is 110 days per the VA stats. Now I did the DBQ (exam) upfront instead of letting the VA C&P examiners do their usual aweful job at an exam. By having my doctor do the DBQ it really shortened the wait time plus I got a better exam and I was rated at the proper amount. In fact both my FDC's I did since Dec 2012 both were done really fast and were rated correctly no complaints here. A big change from my initial claim that took 2 1/2 years to finally finish last November. I was told by the Phoenix RO that FDC's are still a priority claim for processing even though the 2 year thing is going on. Also after the middle of this month they are supposed to start with all claims over 1 year and they said should take about 6 months to complete that backlog. So it shouldn't take too much longer after your C&P exam gets back to the RO and filed in your folder just keep the faith it will be done soon.

Yes it's hard like you my first was 28 months. Every RO has huge differences in FDC wait times hopefully yours won't be that much longer. The VA says it takes them an average of 110 days for FDC's ya right that's with the good RO's I hate to see what Oakland, Baltimore, WACO, St Pete etc FDC's are averaging. So hang in there and I hope you get good results.

Scary wonder how much of our personal information was stolen by these guys. It would be nice if the VA would have come clean and told us Vets about this first. http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2013/06/china-has-repeatedly-hacked-veterans-affairs-databases-2010/64241/?oref=river Since 2010, foreign actors have repeatedly compromised an unencrypted database maintained by the Veterans Affairs Department that contains personally identifiable information on roughly 20 million veterans, a House lawmaker said Tuesday. Speaking at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Michael Coffman, R-Colo., said China and possibly Russia are responsible for the hacking. Coffman, chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, said VA networks and computers have presented “an unacceptable risk for at least three years as sophisticated actors use weaknesses in VA’s security posture to exploit the system and remove veterans’ information and system passwords.” “While VA knew foreign intruders had been in the network, the Department was never sure what exactly these foreign actors took, because the outgoing data was encrypted by the trespassers,” Coffman said. Michael Bowman, director of information technology and security audits for the VA Inspector General, told lawmakers that a foreign country, which he did not identify, also compromised a domain controller that runs the e-mail system used by VA senior leadership. As a result, the unnamed country was able to export the e-mails it snagged from VA senior leaders, Bowman said. In essence, the compromise of the domain controller put the entire VA enterprise at risk, he said. Stephen Warren, acting VA chief information officer, initially told lawmakers that as far as he knew, only one nation, which he declined to identify for security reasons, had penetrated VA networks over the past year. Rep. Robert Roe, R-Tenn., citing an internal VA report, said department networks had been penetrated by eight countries. Roe said the report showed that “well funded cyber espionage teams” have targeted VA. Warren noted that there is a difference between targeting a network and extracting data. As the increasingly contentious hearing entered its second hour, Warren conceded that multiple nations have targeted VA along with criminal syndicates and department insiders who accessed veteran databases to obtain personal information. Breaching VA databases would give hackers access to personal information that could support credit fraud, Bowman said. But VA cannot track network penetrations because it lacks automatic login software to trace such illicit access. Warren said he couldn’t quantify the number of veterans whose personal information had been compromised, prompting an angry explosion from Coffman, incredulous that VA had no idea what data was compromised. Roe kept pressing Warren to identify the countries that have targeted VA, but Warren declined to provide classified information in an open hearing. “Why is it classified?” Roe demanded. “People in this country need to know who is trying to steal veteran information.”

I'm a firm believer in the FDC program. After waiting over 2 1/2 years on my initial claim to be decided I decided to file using the FDC process for my final two claims. The first was done in 111 days and my final claim was done in only 45 days both were fully developed claims no C&P needed etc I gave them everything they needed to rate them. Both were successful claims and it took me from 40% to now 80%. So if you do a FDC right up front as Meghp0405 says you should hopefully get good results. BTW I did these FDC's with a good VSO (AMVETS) and it's the Phoenix RO that my FDC's went through.

What the RO said was that the VA examiners opinion had more evidentiary weight due to the VA medical examiner has access to my entire C file and SMRs and considered a complete evidenece of record. Also the C&P examiner stated and that this is a diagnosable disease with a partial explained etiology. There is no evidence that the private examiners had the benefit of review of your entire claims file, service treatment records nor the history documented in the claims folder. So I guess my cancer that is not related to my 21 years exposure to hazourdous chemicals working on aircraft, exposure to the Balad Burn Pit, Kirkuk Oil Field Fires, Hydrazine, Chronium, Zink Chromate, JP-4/5/8 and the VA was the ones that found it 1 months after my retirement from the USAF. I was not going to let them touch me for treatment so I went to the Mayo Clinic under my private insurance. Funny when two high respected Urology Surgeons in the Phoenix AZ area are deamed less creditable than a C&P exmainer with no urology cancer background. The two Surgeons even put in their IMOs that my cancer was due to all the toxic chemical exposures, they put where they could link thier opinions from and all the documents, journals etc reviewed and they clearly stated they reviewed my copy of my SMR's, buddy statements, MSDS's workplace listings from my last two Air Force duty locations etc....