Joe1766

My previous new claim took just about 4 months to complete....so hoping for that time frame this next go around. Regarding the NOD, it seems clear that can take quite a bit of time.

Navy4life, Then it took only three months for your new claim to be decided, correct? I will just go ahead and submit the new claim, and take the information from the VSO with a grain of salt. Joe

I filed an NOD (5 July 2016) and I am about to file a new claim in about a week. The VSO rep said that if I file a new claim while an NOD has been submitted I should not expect a decision any sooner than a year out. The VSO rep was suggesting the NOD slows the evaluation of the new claim. One other question the VSO said you cannot submit a "fully developed claim" with an NOD pending; that does not seem to make any sense. Thoughts anyone?

saxman, This post is a little old but I filed an NOD (5 July 2016) and I am about to file a new claim in about a week. The VSO rep said that if I file a new claim while an NOD has been submitted I should not expect a decision any sooner than a year out. The VSO was suggesting the NOD slows the evaluation of the new claim. One other question the VSO said you cannot submit a "fully developed claim" with an NOD pending; that does not seem to make sense. Thoughts?

I want to thank everyone for the great Information....working on all your suggestions and I will tell you how things evolve with updates if interested or for the help of future veterans with similar problems. I spoke with another VSO rep in another office and he also stated you cannot meet with the DRO unless the DRO wants to have a meeting. Now, I know, this in contrary to what has been previously stated here in this thread but I think you are getting a feel for what I (we) are up against......just received this e-mail from my initial VSO rep.... "So I am presuming that you are speaking of the “Specific Instructions of the NOD” page? Currently your claim is not under appeal, rather there is a “disagreement” with the decision, for which the DRO is performing a “De Novo” review of the evidence for the 4 items specifically which you filed the NOD for. You can request a hearing before the DRO, and I will do so using a VA Form 21-4138 simply requesting a “Face-to-Face” hearing, and signing it as POA on your behalf." Maybe I am making headway, though, as several people pointed out it may be to late. One other question when I told the VSO rep that I was submitting new claims unrelated to the NOD issues and he stated you can submit a new claim but not as a "fully developed claim", and that it will take longer for the new claim to be resolved with a pending NOD......Does this make any sense? I served 34 years on active duty, did my part, and now I need the assistance of the VSO and they are not coming through in a fashion I would have hoped.

What is disappointing is the VSO rep that helped me with the NOD is the office supervisor, and he supervises several other VSO reps in the office.

How does the DRO Review Process work? A DRO is a senior technical expert who did not participate in the decision being reviewed who is responsible for holding post-decisional hearings, if requested, and processing appeals. Therefore, it would appear that you need to specifically make the request for a hearing. I will show this sentence to the VSO rep.....

This is from page two of the NOD form 21-0958: How does the DRO Review Process work? A DRO is a senior technical expert who did not participate in the decision being reviewed who is responsible for holding post-decisional hearings, if requested, and processing appeals. The DRO will conduct a new and complete review of your claim, without deference to the original decision. The DRO will determine if there is additional evidence necessary to resolve the appeal, may ask you to participate in an informal conference, and/or may pursue additional evidence. The DRO may issue a new decision that changes the original decision by the RO. Part IV states: Part IV - Specific Issues of Disagreement What date do I enter in the Notification/Decision Letter Date? You should enter the date stamped on the notification or decision letter you received that you disagree with in Item 10. Please do not enter today's date in this field. If you need help identifying the date of the notification or decision you disagree with, contact us at 1-800-827-1000. How do I complete this section? The purpose of this section is for you to individually identify each area of disagreement that you have with the VA decision notification letter. Please list only the issues or disabilities with which you disagree. Only those issues that you list on this NOD will be considered on appeal. For those issues you do not list on this NOD, you will still have one year from the date of the decision notification letter to file an appeal for those issues.

Nav4life & Broncovet.....sent the following e-mail to my VSO Rep....."We submitted an NOD on 4 issues that I disagreed with; will the DRO restrict himself/herself to those 4 issues alone or are all the prior claims be reviewed (de novo review)? My hope is only the 4 issues we listed on the NOD will be evaluated. Another question I have is how would I go about requesting an informal hearing with the DRO? At the hearing with the DRO will you or someone from your office be able to present at the hearing? Where are the hearings conducted?" The VSO response.... "There is no one present for any hearing with the DRO, as it is not a hearing but a review of your claim. If it makes it to the Statement of Case, then a hearing is requested….at which point you are able to be present before a BVA judge with a representative of TVC." Does this make any sense??????

Hello Broncovet.....I posted that comment, and when I read it I felt it was concerning hence part of the reason for my initial post. Hopefully, the DRO quoted is the exception rather than the rule. Comments that I have read regarding the DRO and RO is bad cop...bad cop scenario. Joe

Here is the entire quote from the former DRO......FYI. "As a DRO I seldom found an actual "error" in a Rating Decision, and when I did it was just as often an error that favored the claimant as it was one that didn't. When a DRO changes a decision it is almost always a simple difference of opinion usually revolving around the weight given to different pieces of evidence. When I actually found a true error I had to correct it whether it was in favor of the veteran or not, and like I said the errors run about 50/50 for and against the claimant. For example, a common error that inexperienced Rating specialists make is to assign separate evaluations for conditions that cannot legally be evaluated separately. An experienced DRO will see this and will have no choice but to correct the error. Sometimes one doesn't want a more experienced person looking at their rating, although they usually don't know this until it's too late. Otherwise, actual errors in the Rating Decisions aren't nearly as prevalent as most folks think."

Navy4life, Wow that sounds like an unpleasant surgery to say the least....hope you heal and recover quickly. My wife had a hemorroidectomy and she had an absolute miserable time....and she has a HIGH pain threshold.....tough deal. I will absolutely work with the VSO rep and get him to correct the hearing request oversight. I am thinking about working with another VSO rep in that office to get things back on track.

rootbeer22, Thank you for the detailed and informative post. I think individually we all have some of the facts but collectively we are much stronger. I hope you are right about limiting the focus to the areas that are being challenged but with large organizations like the VA it's hard to know what your dealing with. As you stated and I agree the majority of the VA employees are trying to do the right thing but as you also know there are always some bad actors out there. I read several posts by a former DRO with many years of experience and he stated that he rarely found issue with the RO and did find CUE in a fair number of cases that he was forced to resolve against the veteran. This DRO stated "For example, a common error that inexperienced Rating specialists make is to assign separate evaluations for conditions that cannot legally be evaluated separately. An experienced DRO will see this and will have no choice but to correct the error. Sometimes one doesn't want a more experienced person looking at their rating, although they usually don't know this until it's too late. Otherwise, actual errors in the Rating Decisions aren't nearly as prevalent as most folks think"...........

Broncovet, The VSO rep did not place any statement in the NOD regarding a hearing. I am getting the feeling he is relatively inexperienced or not that sharp. I will speak with him and see how to correct the hearing request oversight. I understand about the DRO more often than not supporting the RO but, as with Navy4life, the medical information in both my service record and the C&P exam were flatly ignored. For example I state I had hemorrhoids and at the C&P exam on the 13th of June the examiner in fact found small to moderate hemorrhoids but the rating came back NSC????? Even if they only wanted to rate at 0% it should have been service connected. I have service records with this condition described and I am still within one year after leaving service (retirement with a total of 34 years of active service)....so at very least hemorrhoids are Service Connected. Same thing with Chronic sinusitis, hypertension, and Vertigo.......The VSO when he read the medical report on the most recent C&P exam did not understand why this evidence was not given the appropriate weight.

Glad to hear things went well for you........though, seems like a long drawn out process...Thanks for all the advice.