Military Medical And Health Records

[allan]

Military Medical and Health Records

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-...ds/medical.html

taken from the archives web page..........

[Veterans who plan to file a claim for medical benefits with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) do not need to request a copy of their military health record from NPRC (MPR).]

I requested my records from the VARO for over 25 years & "NEVER" received a response of any kind.

I finally found this website & requested a copy of my records from them. I received a reply from the archives center that the VARO had all my original records in their position not long after I left service in the mid 70's.

When I finally received my service medical records from the VARO, three years were missing. The three years that would have shown ongoing treatment records for the injuries I'm claiming.

If you did not receive a complete copy of your records when you left service, request your records from the archives center "FIRST" or some of yours may go missing before the DVA sends them to you.

Allan

[Bonzai]

If I am understanding this correctly, when a claim is filed, then the SMRs are sent from St. Louis to the VARO, and kept there until two years have passed with no further activity. In requesting a copy of all my SMRs, I assumed that the RO would only get a copy of the SMRs, and the original file would remain in archives.

If the original SMRs are sent to RO, then there is nothing to prevent them from removing/shredding/burning/changing/losing any SMRs that are contrary to the VARO's decisions. That's kinda of scary isn't it? We have no one to watch the watchers. And people wonder how medical records end up disappearing. Maybe they have a wheel they spin and it has slots that say approve or deny. If it comes up deny, then they just change the evidence to match the spin. They not only control the SMRs, but also the results of the C&P exams.

Isn't there an oversight committee or something that an address can be posted about, so we can write and complain?

If nothing changes, then Nothing Changes.

One other thing... How can you request a copy of all your SMRs from the VARO, if they have your SMRs? Would it be a 21-4138 or Release of Information?

Edited August 19, 2009 by Bonzai

[12R3G]

Actually, it's worse than you think.

Prior to 1992, all records--personnel, health (SMR), and clinical records/notes--all went to the NPRS in St Louis. In 1992, the Army began sending personnel and health (SMR) directly to the VA, bypassing the NPRS, for safekeeping and storage. The other services followed suit, with the Coast Guard being the final service to begin sending records directly to the VA beginning in 1998.

Clinical records--the inpatient hospital notes--are still submitted by the hospital to the NPRS.

Since all new records go to the VA anyway, I doubt they send anything to the NPRS anymore--but that's just a guess.

The upside is that the we don't have to wait for the VA to request and NPRS to locate and ship records when a claim as filed. Post shreddergate, maybe not a completely good idea.

With service medical records available electronically, all services should be required to provide separating servicemembers with an electronic copy, along with a hard copy of any paper records.

[Commander Bob]

The down side is; we have to get the raters at the VA to fully read the records and then reach a fair decision. They sometimes do not even turn the page, when preparing the denial letter.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Commander Bob 92-93

[Commander Bob]

With the back log of claims, the VA is more interested in the quantity of decisions made. Not the quality.

[john999]

Bob

According to what I have heard is that if the VA gets information there is an assumption that they have read and evaluated it. That, of course, is BS. In my original claim the VA simply excluded all information that did not agree with their low ball rating. My recent decisions have been favorable to me, but just awful as far as the rational for the decisions. Really, I can't understand how they made these ratings. This is why persistence is what really wins claims. Even if you have great evidence you have to be a bull dog to win. You keep throwing the dice.

[WHOLESALE]

yep yep, before they even start rating a claim they are in a mindset of how to get denied so they get their bonus.

frank

The down side is; we have to get the raters at the VA to fully read the records and then reach a fair decision. They sometimes do not even turn the page, when preparing the denial letter.