vern2

Sorry, MEANT TO SAY BDD.

The 180 mark is what is called the BVDD, and allows vets and retirees to start the claims up to 180 days prior to discharge/retirement. In theory this would speed up your claim, and should be resolved about 6 months after you get out. In reality, not so good. I used to be TAP person at Eglin AFB, and from 04-11, conducted pre-sep briefings for hundreds of AF, NAVY MARINES and ARMY that were stationed at Eglin. Always advised everyone to get sleep study and file for sleep apnea, among other issues. There was a definite spike in sleep apnea claims at my VARO! I used my lessons learned in dealing with VA as example on how to file claim and what to expect. I had waiting list to attend my pre-sep, pre-retirement briefings.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has made a proposal that claims can be started by filing VA Form 21-0966. This change has NOT gone into effect and will not go into effect until March 24, 2015. Claims filed on a VA Form 21-0966 prior to March 24, 2015 will not be processed. If you have filed this form prior to 24 March 2015, it will not be accepted. Got this from another web page for veterans, just passing on this info. Vern2

Recently I sent Ms. Allison Hickey an email on 11 March 2015 on my backlogged NOD and claims. This is part of one email that the Director sent me. My claim has been ongoing since 2003. I am currently rated 30% SC for hypertension. I filed 11 new contentions, including request for increase in my HTN rating in July 2012. The VA rater also added three more contentions to my list. extract from email from St. Pete Director today-13 March 2015 VA examinations were previously requested for the claimed conditions, however, additional information is needed before a Decision Review Officer decision can be rendered. A request for five aggravation opinions, a request for reevaluation of his service-connected hypertension with pulmonary hypertension, and a request for 1 secondary/aggravation opinion was submitted to the Pensacola VA Outpatient Clinic on March 11, 2015. When we receive this information back, we can review and make a decision on your appeal. I am sure it is just a coincidence, but this happened the same day that I emailed Ms. Hickey. What exactly does the highlighted statement mean? I have another C & P exam next Wednesday, which would be #7, all for basically same thing, HTN, heart disease and secondary conditions caused by HTN and heart disease. I have nothing new to tell the C & P examiner, just re-state same information that i gave on 8 August 2013. I have some new info, such as DBQ's by two cardiologists, and several tests results. I did complain to Ms. Hickey about the sheer number of C & P exams. I have disputed every C & P exam with data to counter act the misstatements by the VA examiner. Oh well, can anyone enlighten me as to the highlighted statement? Feeling depressed again, time for more Prozac Vern2

What really makes me mad is the endless C& P exams, I have had 7 so far, all for same issues. WTF?

Sent an email to Ms. Hickey today. Wow! got responses from VARO director at St. Pete, Nashville, and director of Efile storage/claims at St. Louis. as well as Ms. Hickey. Stirred up a firestorm. more to follow. Vern2

Ok, so what is his email address. Having same problem.

What is Ms Hickey,s email address? Cant seem to find it anywhere.

Thanks for the replies, still waiting on IRIS Response to the last post. My IRIS team is same as VARO -St. Petersburg. They can not communicate in house, so their response to our queries is worse. Someone suggested I contact Bob McDonald at VA.gov? Who is this person, as I thought he was an attorney.

This is my response to recent VA IRIS email sent to me. It is replete with errors that IRIS and VA has made. Went to IRIS website and noticed that my claim, originally filed in July 2012, is now showing closed with no appeal, no nothing.! WTF. I received this response from IRIS and have questions about it. Response from IRIS: Our records currently show your appeal is a traditional appeal. We received your Notice of Disagreement (NOD) on October 7, 2014. NOT CORRECT! THIS SHOULD BE OCTOBER 7, 2013. Your appeal will be reviewed under the traditional appeals process. Right now, your appeal is awaiting that review. If we need additional information, we will contact you. If we don’t need any additional information, a decision will be made and you will receive written notification. The processing of Notice of Disagreements average about 377 days. NOTE: IT HAS BEEN OVER 377 DAYS SINCE I FILED NOD AND REQUESTED DE NOVO REVIEW. The length of time it takes to process your NOD depends on the specifics of your case and the VA’s pending workload. A review of your documents indicates you submitted a notice of disagreement (NOD) to the St. Petersburg Regional Office (RO) indicating you wanted to appeal the decision in your September 22, 2013 notification letter and requesting a de nova review or Decision Review Officer for your appeal. We show you also submitted supporting documents with your NOD. NOTE: SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION WAS SUBMITTED STARTING IN JANUARY 2014. We are reassigning your inquiry to the St. Petersburg Regional Office (RO) to request they update your appeal records to show you requested the de nova review and contact you to advise you when this has been done. WHAT DO YOU MEAN " REASSIGNING"? MY CASE WAS AND STILL SHOULD BE WITH THE ST. PETERSBURG VARO. IF NOT WHERE WAS IT? PLEASE Respond to my questions. Thanks! What a crock! changed my NOD date by one year and then "reassigned" my case to St. Petersburg and ignored the fact that been over 377 days since my NOD. Hate dealing with any aspect of the VA as incompetence is the accepted norm with this agency.

Thanks Rootbeer22 and chuck 75 as well as Berta! In a previous DoD career, I had to respond to FOIA queries many times and the law does require response in 20 days, not just a form letter saying we are busy. The VA routinely violates this law and nothing is ever done. I have 2 options; wait and hire an attorney. Oh well, wait it is:) vern2 ( still on the hamster wheel)

Thanks, Berta. I did the Privacy Act request first and got nothing, so that is why I did the FOIA and still got nothing. Yes, I am aware of the 20 days to acknowledge, but they have not acknowledged my request yet. A form letter telling me that behind and do not know when will get to my request is not an acknowledgement in my opinion:) I am aware that this may take years to resolve.

I requested a via FOIA letter to St. Petersburg VARO for an updated copy of my c-file- to include information that was omitted in original response and to include all of 2013 documentation that I had submitted. This request was on June 30, 2014. Never got a response so sent a nother letter to VARO and got letter (form type) from a Jennifer Haldor at VARO, telling me that usual backlog, etc. and that they would respond. Never did, so sent a letter to OGC in September 2014 and got letter telling me that they would contact St. Petersburg VARO, again never heard from them. Finally I called the OGC this am and discovered that a Deborah McCallum, that I had been corrosponding with no longer worked with the OGC. the person did tell me that they had sent another letter to VARO today and that this was all they could do. HUH! Does not Federal law require the agency to respond within 20 business days with an answer to the request or reason why they can not or will not comply? BTW: the phone numbers for OGC are: 1. main number (front desk) 202-273-6660 2. OGC offices 202-461-7684 The only other recourse I have is to hire an attorney and file a writ of mandamus in my local Federal district court. This would be expensive and VA knows this so they continue to DENY, DENY and HOPE I DIE. Any suggestions Vern2

These are redacted copies of the actual letters from OGC and the VARO FOIA office. Seems like the OGC wants me to go round and round. The law, which does not seem to apply to the VA as they are like Men In Black, ABOVE THE LAW, requires a response within 20 days. I started this quest on June 27, 2014. Does anyone have any suggestions as to my next step, which seems to be sending a writing of mandamus to CAVC, but I am not a lawyer. Vern2

I followed ASKNOD's advice and after getting a form letter from FOIA office at my VARO, sent letter to OGC, several weeks later got a letter telling me to contact them again if the FOIA did not respond. It has been over 30 work days, so another letter to OGC. It seems as though FOIA is reluctant to provide me what I have requested, 75% of my documentation, including ALL that was submitted in 2013 was not in the copy of my c file that I did receive almost one year ago. THIS IS A FARCE. Does anyone know of lawyer that will take a case on FOIA either pro bono or on whatever fee he may recover? I can not afford an attorney. This impacts my pending appeal. Vern2

I was told by IRIS that there was a 21 day rule, but I never heard of this rule. Vern2

This is on eBenefits. Not sure if anyone has mentioned this or not. A Rule by the Veterans Affairs Department on 09/25/2014 The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) amends its adjudication regulations and the appeals regulations and rules of practice of the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) to require that all claims governed by VA's adjudication regulations be filed on standard forms prescribed by the Secretary, regardless of the type of claim or posture in which the claim arises. Note: this applies to NOD as well as any type of appeal or claim. The emphasis is MUST be filed on the standard VA form. HATE THIS RULE! VA is still screwing with the vets as usual. Vern2

Most of what I received in my c-file request was what I call "fluff" , virtually nothing that I had mailed to VARO was in the c-file. I did find two pieces of medical records that will help my claim, and copy of the letter I sent to them in July 2013 about VBMS. I have learned not to place much faith in the reliability of what is posted on eBenefits, or anything that the VA states for that matter! I just wanted to point out that VA had lumped two separate claims together with earlier date as date for both claims. This may be good for me, but it is not correct.

Follow-up. Called Peggy yesterday. The young man read from a script and stated that my earlier claim for scar was still there but could not tell me why the other claims now had an earlier date. Yes, I agree that filing new claims while still have pending will delay, but needed to file these claims ASAP due to my decliniing health. The FOIA was actually a follow-on to one that I filed in October of 2013. Vern2

I filed a claim back on June 4, 2014 for scar on my chin dating from 1973. It was listed as received on June 4, 2014. Simple claim, had LOD, medical treatment records and my 21-526. sent back the 5103 stating no further info on this claim. I filed another claim for heart issues on June 30, 2014, VA received it on July 3, 2014. It never made it to eBenefits until today, when saw change. Leave it to Va to screw everything up! I have included the printout of their notice. I have two open claims, plus a FOIA "claim" and they have managed to screw this up. I did call Peggy, and left message as wait time was almost one hour. Details of Your Claim Claim Received: 06/04/2014 (note: this is date of another claim, did not even mail this claim until June 30, 2014 and VA received it on July 3, 2014) Claim Type: Compensation Estimated Claim Completion Date: 03/08/2015 to 09/01/2015 (note: the other claim had completion date of 2014, seems that they have moved it forward one year!) Contentions: VBMS (New), structural heart disease (New), cardiomegaly/cardiomyopathy (New), carotid artery disease (New) Note: (these are the contentions in my new claim; my old claim was for scar on chin) Claims Status Process Skip the Claims Process and go to the current phase. 1. Claim Received 2. Under Review 3. Gathering of Evidence 4. Review of Evidence 5. Preparation for Decision 6. Pending Decision Approval 7. Preparation for Notification 8. Complete Next Steps: We will review all available evidence and make a decision on your claim upon receipt of all requested information as outlined in the headings, "What Do We Still Need from You?" and "What Have We Done?". Several factors will determine the duration of the "Development" phase, including: • type of claim filed • number of disabilities you claim • complexity of your disability(ies), and • availability of evidence needed to decide your claim. Additional Details • Regional Office of Jurisdiction: St. Petersburg • Send Documentation To Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office Regional Office PO Box 1437 St. Petersburg, FL 33731 Upload Documentation What Do We Still Need From You? Your Attention is Needed • Automated 5103 Notice Response Date Requested: 06/26/2014 Due Date: 07/26/2014 Note: never received a 5103 for new claim on heart, etc. I did complete a 5103 for the chin claim and sent it back on July 7, 2014. Prior to today all the info on eBenefits pertained to the old claim. Glad I printged this and saved it. More delays because of VA mix-ups:) Vern2

This same thing happened to me some time ago. I sent some documentation to support my claim, but forgot and put the old po box 7000 address and my certified mail was forwarded to Newnan, Ga. Then I changed and am sending mail to po box 1437, at St. Pete. Not sure what this is about either?

I sent IRIS and email asking why my VARO could not access the documents that i had uploaded in support of my claim. This is the response: We apologize for the delay in responding to your inquiry. We are currently experiencing a high volume of inquiries, and are working as quickly as possible to respond to each in a timely manner. The records indicate we received multiple documents in 2013 to support your claim; we are unable to determine why you could not verify this on eBenefits. To speak with an eBenefits specialist please call 1-800-827-10001-800-827-1000 (when prompted please press the number 7). Veterans Benefits Management System Generally, when documents are received they are uploaded into the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS). The Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) is one of the new tools we are using to help process Veterans claims faster, and more efficiently. VBMS is a web-based, electronic claims processing portal created to give VA the ability to process Veterans claims paper-free. It is helping us move from a paper-based claims process to an electronic claims process. Unfortunately, the contents of this system cannot be monitored by eBenefits. The programmers are aware of the problem. The advantage of the VBMS system is we are able to immediately access information electronically and not wait for the information to be scanned into the system. In some cases scanning information into the system is taking up to 75 days. Unfortunately, at this time there is no means for eBenefits to record which documents were uploaded or display that list. The eBenefits team has plans to enhance the feature to include this capability soon. After you successfully upload files, the eBenefits system displays a message listing each uploaded file with the file name, file type and date uploaded. You should print this message out, if possible, or save the screen image, for your records, because you cannot see this page again once you close it.

Wording of the request would have to include ALL ELECTRONIC RECORDS and those records converted to electronic format, including all info in c-file and all uploaded info by the veteran.

I have a FOIA request for my VBMS records, since early July? Sent query to IRIS as well. IRIS reply was that VBMS info was mine and due to privacy they had no access to this record. What a load of BS! The info I uploaded to VBMS was over 200 pages of documentation for my Cnp claim, so to claim that they can not access it is a lie. Next step, letter to OGC, and my congressman.

Are you aware that the IRIS team consists of new hires, lowest pay grade and no experience. The have a script, and answers they give avague and not question specific, in most cases. Example: what is status of my new claim filed on June 29th, IRIS response is to cite the 21 day rule. Duh! It as bee more than 21 working days, but guess they can not count that high, not enough fingers and toes! Ha Ha.