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Getting An Independent

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Independent Medical Opinions can often be the only way a veteran or widow can succeed on a VA claim.

Opinions obtained from private treating doctors are often free yet most independent medical opinions are needed from doctors with full expertise in the field of the disability can be very costly.

However an award can easily absorb this cost with a few comp checks or the increases in comp that the claimant might never obtain without an IMO.

A Valid IMO must contain the following:

The doctor must have all medical records available and refer to them directly in the opinion.

In cases involving an in-service nexus- the doctor needs to read and refer to the SMRs.

Also the doc needs to have all prior SOC decisions from VA particularly those referencing any VA medical opinions or a copy of the actual C & P results.

The doctor should define their medical expertise as to how their background makes their opinion valid.

In other words a psychiatrist cannot really opine on a cardiovascular disease.

An internist cannot really opine on a depression claim.

The doctor must have some valid medical expertise that makes his/her IMO valid.

The doctor should state their opinion in terms of “as least as likely as not”, or “More than likely” as to the present disability and the nexus to the veteran’s service medical records or other SC disabilities, if the medical evidence warrants them to agree with the claim.

They should then refer to specific medical evidence to support their conclusion.

They should rule out any other potential etiology if they can-but for service as causing the disability.

They should briefly quote from and cite any established medical principles or treatises that support their opinion.

They should point out any discrepancies in any VA examiner’s opinion-such as the VA doctor not considering pertinent evidence of record in the veteran’s SMRs or Clinical record.

They should fully provide medical rationale to rebutt anything that is not medically sound nor relevant or appropriate in the VA doctor’s opinion.

They should attach a full Curriculum Vitae if possible or list their expertise within the opinion and tell VA of any special medical background they have that also makes their opinion valid. (For example, how long they have treated patients with the same disability, any articles they have written, or symposiums attended etc,)

It helps considerably to identify pertinent documents in your SMRs and medical records with easily seen labels as well as to list and identify these specific documents in a cover letter that requests the medical opinion.

A good IMO doctor reads everything you send but this makes it a little easier for them to prepare the IMO as to referencing specific records.

Send the VA and your vet rep copies of the signed IMO.

And make sure your rep sends them a 21-4138 in support of it- you also- can send this form (available at the VA web site) as a cover letter highlighting this evidence.

PS- Mental disabilities- make sure the doctor states that you are competent to handle your own funds- otherwise, if a big retro award is due-the VA might attempt to declare you incompetent and it takes times to find and have the VA approve of a payee.

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How many months of the va medical records do they need to have in order to do the imo... i know the cnp and decisions but i have 1000s of pages of med records so i just want to now what they need. thnx

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What medical records an IMO doctor needs depends on the type of IMO-

If it requires a service nexus statement-they need the SMRs and all available med recs.

If it is for a secondary condition, then they would possibly just need the records that transpired since the original condition was service connected so they could give a full medical rationale for why the additional condition is secondary.

For my initial IMOs I sent in 6 years of med recs plus all SOCs, SSOC and C & P exam results.But my husband had many additional VA med recs yet they were not needed by the VA for that specific claim.

For my pending AO IHD death claim, I needed very few med recs and a few other documents.

They only asked me for one additional thing and said it has been ready for decision since April 2011.

It all depends on the claim and most IMOs would probably require the whole shibang.

I always advise sending the IMO doctor a cpover letter describing the type of opinion your are seeking and then you can tab and mark specific records that he or she would need their attention called to.

For example an MRI narrative I enclosed done on my husband was expanded on in the doctor's entrees during his hospitalization. Unlike the typed MRI narrative,it was very difficult to read the doctor's handwriting.

After I decifered it all, it was very critical info for my past claims.

Some med recs contain lots of extemporaneous stuff which may or may not be relevant to a claim. Best to send them all to the IMO doctor if in doubt.

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bumping it up

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I realized the actual verbage isnt in this post I made so here it is from tmoe :

"Is due to- 100%

More likely than not- Greater than 50%

At least as likely as not- 50% (Benefit of doubt goes to Vet)

Not at least as likely as not- Less than 50%

Is not due to- 0% from an post by carlie

here is a link http://www.google.com/search?client=safari...-8&oe=UTF-8"

Although some IMO docs might state this a little differently, this is what the VA is familiar with so best that they use this verbage.

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Regarding the statement -"Not at least as likely as not- Less than 50%". Is this grounds for an automatic disapproval if the VA doctor doing your compensation exam indicated this on the standard form?

Sorry didn't mean to hijack your post-saw this and had a immediate inquiry relating to mine before I get another independent doctor.

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Thanks for bringing that up as I didn't check the copy and should have!!!

"Not at least as likely as not- Less than 50%"

I don't think that is the exact wording VA uses and will check that.

If a VA doc says 'less likely then not', the VA will deny the claim.

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