brokensoldier244th

What requirements are you reading, and from where? Link?

I don't know what went into their thinking but presumably if you had served in an affected area early in your career, and then retired out 15 or whatever years later then some of those symptoms would have manifested while still in service and you would have a direct or secondary service connection rather than PACT.

Keep in mind that paying for IME's guarantees nothing with the raters, and the IME doctors still get your money. Some of the IMEs ive seen are more legalese than actual rationale of the condition and why it is service connected= waste of your money. They spend more time trying to intimidate with their 'legal knowledge' that they don't focus on the point of the IME. Plus, we know who a lot of them are, so if you are getting a paid IME from somewhere where you ARENT and can't show that they examined you it lessens the veracity of what they are trying to rationalize. There are a lot of "driive by doctors" and internet doctors that make a lot of money off of you by writing impressive sounding rationales that don't actually have much meat to them.

What are you asking? If your conditions are static and not subject to review later? If so, then have a VSO get your code sheet. It will show what ratings you have that have dates set in the future for re-review.

Fine, Cue. You are right, everyone else is wrong. *smh* Claims and transaction suspense dates are not just monitored by humans, and attempting to game them is more work than it would be worth rather than just working the claim. I've tested it as part of various software upgrades to VBMS over the last three years. The chances of successfully gaming them is low to almost non-existent. Those that do get a warning and mandatory retraining on suspense dates. After that, you are fired. There is no benefit to a rater repeatedly pushing a claim off without rating it. 90% of their job performance and scoring is based on rated, completed claims, not claims pushed off into the ether. You can't just assign a random suspense date to a claim that isn't tracking an action- a letter, and exam, a request to the veteran for information - all of that is tracked, not by humans. Did a letter go out? Did a phone call get made? (the can track our individual phone records, even working at home). Is there an exam pending? Its all tracked multiple ways. Please reference the report you are talking about- Id be interested in reading it. OIG can find anything if it looks hard enough out of millions of claims. They literally justify their existence by finding things wrong.

There is no automatic 30 day hold on all claim action items, Cue. If I order exams, after that its on the facility doing the exam to schedule it based on what providers they have that can do the exam, distance from the veteran, hardship designated on the claim, etc. If it went back to the same VSR over and over, or the same Rater you would be subject to waiting longer because they couldnt just drop everything and work your claim over others they already had assigned to them- you'd sit longer waiting for a rating, or for a single VSR to re-examine stuff when it came back before sending to rating.

Back problems in general fall under 38CFR Book C 4.71a, this includes range of motion (or lack thereof) from spinal fusions, and pain. Radiculopathy is a separate condition that is rated under "incomplete paralysis of sciatic nerve", or can be rated under neuralgia/Neuritis Dx code 85,86,8720, and a few others, generally under "Peripheral Nerves" in 38CFR 4.124a. You can be rated bilaterally (meaning bilateral factor applies- it bumps up your percentage just a bit) also.

Yes, they are rated separately. That changed in the later 2000s. I was rated initially under the combined standard in 2002 and then they changed it a few years later and I then had two separate ratings.

No, sacroilliac is the name of the joint(s) in the low back. Radiculopathy is symptom of low back issues that sometimes happens when nerves are pinched or aggravated, resulting in sciatica, radiculopathy, neuropathy- docs call it different things. Generally you can trace the numbness and pain down different bands in your back, buttocks, and legs, like a like the curves from back to front. Google sciatica nerve pathways and you'll learn more than you probably want to know about that aspect.

No kidding? Cool! Ive been looking at solar charged battery power stations with 12v inverters. I didnt know I could request a backup from VA (or at least ask). Thanks, Bronc

Unless you need to use an alternative device (ive read that some veteran are getting the surgically implanted stimulator if they can't tolerate a CPAP) like a mouthguard insert- im not sure what they are called- you gotta use the 'Pap. I was Dx'd in 2012 after years of continued drowsiness that began affecting my mental and physical health, culminating in me falling asleep at work, and while driving when I was at a light since I was no longer being 'constantly stimulated'. I would sit on the couch in and immediately drop off. OSA can kill you, slowly, literally, and one night you just don't wake up because your O2 sats drop far enough.

That number of days is fluid, not fixed, and is an estimate only. It changes as workload changes amongst the ROs . 0995s and 0996s are also different. Since one allows submission of new evidence (0995) they can take longer.

You can do it on VA.Gov. if you Google "change VA disability direct deposit" you'll get a link to it. If you don't have a login for that there is a standard form, either way it's not instant and with direct deposits going out in a week I'd wait until the 1st. They are batches up a few days before the first and sent to the Fed. I'd also keep the new account open for a month or until you've verified that it's been entered. Chasing it down and getting it RE deposited is a pain in the ass. I enter a these sometimes as a VSR, Though it's not our primary thing. I catch a few that were submitted but not done every few weeks. *****Edit- here is the instruction link. You can also call the 800 number- I think they can do it. https://www.va.gov/resources/how-to-change-direct-deposit-information-for-va-benefits/ Form 1199 link https://www.va.gov/find-forms/about-form-sf-1199a

This is a great option- perhaps freezing the site on 0 day and then mirroring the information somewhere like "MEGA" (at least the forum posts) so that it can then be transcribed over, over time. After that the "Mega" file can be deleted. I don't know what kind of file size we're talking about, though, so that may be implausible to stupidly impossible. Id volunteer as a Mod on Reddit- im there all the time anyway, but Id leave that up to Tbird/Vync/Bronc/other members. Take a poll of suggestions for mods from the current pool, and maybe a few others of the community here if you want to add a few, Poll it to the current site members, then Lemuel can grant Mod authority on Reddit once the list is whittled down.

They do but they don't have to list every single state in their letterhead. Your doctor doesn't either.

Oh, none taken! Just tossing out ideas. I suppose someone could locally archive the whole site for reference purposes but your Host likely has something in place to deter that, too. Site-rippers hit 10,20, 30 links at once to download the info and then reconstitute on the other side, its a pretty invasive process not really meant for whole sites, more like, parts of sites.

I've got a masters in IT Sec, I know how they (SEO attacks) work. I just wondered if the content itself could be saved, at least for a period of time, like a year. Eventually VA regs changes world render some of the information obselete but that's always been an issue. At least it would keep the info up for awhile. What is the status of members identifying information? I'm assuming that was encrypted so there isn't any chance of that coming to bite people?

Is there any chance the site itself can at least be archived and hosted? Internet Wayback Machine (website) also should at least provide a way for Vets to still see site content but as a site drops out of use the Wayback crawler slows down and essentially stops crawling it, making it hard to find, even there. Still, at least for awhile, its an option for people to still find it to go back and research.

A DBQ isn't a rating opinion- have you received a narrative decision yet? The RVSR still has to go through the record again before issuing an opinion.

Did you claim it specifically to Pes Planus? If the opinion asked for is secondary to Pes planus then that is what the examiner has to answer. This is why I advise people not to try to get super specific with their claimed contentions. The MD may carry some weight but if there is conflicting opinions then they may send it (not you) to another examiner for separate decision. The examiner is basically saying that the knee issues are due to in svc injuries- so you could have had a direct opinion rather than a secondary- but that doesn't sound like thats what was asked for. You don't have to claim a contention as direct or secondary when you send it in- thats the VSR and raters job to figure out. You can state you think it may be cause by x, y, z to give them a direction to look in, or you can just say "due to knee injuries incurred in service" or something like that unless you can point to a specific incident or two.

No worries. You can contact him directly, too, but honestly they are likely used to to it. If you have good relationship with them you can write them a nice letter and then they can notify us that the relationship is terminated, also.

Pretty much, yup. It can become generationally ingrained among lower income households, too, and because of pattern recognition the kids see and learn the same behaviors. Plus, the underlying psychological effects that linger even AFTER they may have 'gotten out' and done better for themselves than they had been growing up.

If its that old then its likely been scanned, if you are talking strictly VA folder. Other stuff not yet incorporated into VA that old would be at NPRC.

congratulations! -well, relatively. Im sure you'd rather be hale and healthy, but under the circumstances I am happy to hear it! Do something nice for you and yours, then stash the rest somewhere and forget you have it for awhile, if you can. If you don't follow the propensity to consume economic curve (gradually increasing spending to match new income-eco theory of how people act) you'll probably have some money stashed for 'oh shoot' moments. If you hit 100% p&t don't forget to ask your state/county about Tax exemptions for homestead and vehicles- that can add up. And CHAMP VA for your dependents, and DEA eligibility as well.

You can file a 21-22 with VA and revoke, which gets the attention of VRCs and in VBMS the form is flagged to be reviewed. You can also do it on a cocktail napkin, 21-4138, etc, but the 21-22 is the official POA form and is easier to search for if looking for POA history, or prior revocations, etc. .