Aletta Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 My hubby is Army and I know "Hurry up and Wait" saying all to well. He uses it every time we goes to the VAMC. We are in Missouri, and the St. Louis is the RO for him. He did have his claim sent to London KY. As I understand from his VSO. London is/was a CPC, Claim Processing Center. When IHD was first approved as a presumptive, all of these claim went there for 'faster' processing. When the IHD claims slowed down and went back to the ROs, London started doing claims, at least for the St. Louis RO, that were pass one year. My hubby's claim was sent there... and misplaced. I have a letter with London CPC letterhead with the VACC, which hubby's signed and gave to his VSO to send. The letter stated to send there. Due to some issues here at home, I didn't check eBenifits for three months, that was a mistake. I noticed the paperwork was not showing up as received. I called the VSO, he found out, the paper work was NOT in my hubby's file, this was after it took them a week to find it. I don't remember the month, but last year, all claims from SLRO that were at London was sent back to SL. When this happened, I understand, not verified, that due to the amount of claims sent back, all claims were put on hold until they 'organized' the claims. I believe it was only the claim that came back from London, KY and not other claims. I didn't think to ask at the time. The reason I asked how long the 'rater' has a claim, is after my husband's surgery next week and his and my stress is back to a normal for us. I plan to send my comments about scraping the 'rater's' job. I am sure the VA has IT guys that can make a program that when the C&P examiner fills out their 'questioner' in a program that can do the rating per the law. I think this will do away with lots of waisted time in the claim process. I was just wondered how long the claim takes from C&P exam to next step past the rater. Raters are not medical people anyway. All they do is go by the C&P exam and 'key punch' what the examiner marks to come up with a rating. Does it not make sense to have a program where the examiner 'key punches' the findings in? There was errors with my hubby's rating from what the examiner put in the DBQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadIt.com Elder Chuck75 Posted March 10, 2013 HadIt.com Elder Share Posted March 10, 2013 "I am sure the VA has IT guys that can make a program" ---- Afraid Not! In part, it's because the VA cannot or will not identify exactly what the program must do. Recent events seem to show otherwise. The VA "IT people" haven't even been able to fully comply with the VA's data security requirements. Some VA IT "high level" management individuals have recently resigned. (Wasting about a billion dollars might be part of the reason!) Then, the law and regs have a complexity that do not lend themselves to the typical yes/no either or logic in a computer program. A "fuzzy logic" program might work, but the "devils in the details". Finally, regardless of VA verbiage, the VA is a bureaucrat's "wet dream". Minimal effective oversight, potential unlimited expansion, empire building, and so forth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aletta Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 I am talking about the 'rating'.. A simple program to check boxes or not check and easily be done. I am not talking about if a claim is approved or denied by a program. There is much written documentaion that is needed for any decision to be done by human eyes and brains if they have them. But for the rating: For instances less take the cardiovascular system. In WARMS 4.104 - Schedule of Ratings, Cardiovascular , there is a list of different disability related to Cardiovascular disease with a percentage of each. All a program would have to do is to produce the outcome of % that the C&P examiner not a non-medical person in the RO called the Rater. Then when the C&P exam is finished, the rest of the DBQ can be evaluated by a Decision person in hopes they have a brain. This would or should decrease the back logs some. I don't know how long it takes for a C&P to be rated by a person at the RO. I don't know about other VAMCs, but at the HST-VMC in Columbia Missouri the C&P Exam is sent electronically to the SLRO. Any security issues will not be changed if there is a 'rating program' from what the risks are now. I do agree with you on the devils in the details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71M10 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 IN MY OPINION The system as it now stands greatest liability is the fact that NO ONE at the RO or C&P exam reads the entire evidence/file. Do the math people, their is no way they can do the production numbers they have and actually read the file. They top-sheet and skim over what is sent them. The DBQ's and Exam worksheets were designed to highlight what is important for the average claim/condition. As for the answer for average time with rater, It is proportional to the complexity of the claim. Raters will grab the easiest ones first, to ensure they meet/exceed the production quotas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyman Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 I would suggest you get copies of C&P exams through ROI. The questions on mine done in Jan 2013 were very to the point questions. Does the veteran have DMII? Does the veteran have lower extremeties PN? It was very basic stuff. My NP was very good. She was friendly, but business like. She told me mine would be 30 to 90 days, but not to hold her to that. She further advised that backlog at the Indy RO is long. IT IS LONG. They have more than 18,000 claims with a over 125 days processing time on more than 14,000. My claim info was mailed to Augusta ME who developed it, then sent it all back to Indy to merry up with the C&P exam. Like the other posts, now the difficult time starts which is Wait, Wait, and Wait more. Wish you luck. From what I read it looks like you had good examiners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aletta Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 WE have already requested the C&P copy in between the two exams. Medical Release people know us by first name. The Copy came last Saturday and it was missing one of the exam. I called Monday and the examiner didn't sign off till Saturday. I told Linda, I would pick it up today while hubby was in surgery. But I had to call her today and ask that she mail it, because we would not be there, Hubby's surgery is postponed for two weeks. She started printing it while I was still on the phone and will mail it out. If she gets it in the mail today, we should have it no later than Saturday, but I hope tomorrow...lol.. The C&Ps are showing as received on eBennies... His local therapist copied and checked boxes off the 'symptoms' page from the DBQ on PTSD review. I showed the examiner and the SSOC the therapist wrote for him. The examiner asked if she could copy it, I said yes. His therapist checked most all of the 'worst' choices then in the comment box she wrote: Fits of rage when startled or provoked. Her SSOC letter says in the beginning "...this statement is in support of (Hubby's name) claim for unemployability due to PTSD." Then she goes on to write some of her sessions with him and how long and how often she sees him. I didn't not suggest anything for her to write. We have discussed hubby's feelings about the 'government not standing by veterans like they promised'... and his claim. So I am anxious (a good kind) to read what the C&P says.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts