Does Va Claim Ro Look Into Your Va Medical Record?

[bojack]

Just wondering members,

Do VA claim RO look into your medical record? I usually go to VA 4 to 5 times per month for my treatment and therapy. Is it my job to update those new information to my claim or will

they look it at before they make their judgement down the road?

Thank you

[Berta]

I noticed no one answered your question.

If you file a claim, you will eventually get a C & P exam, geared to the claimed disability.

The C & P examiner is supposed to focus on your medical records as to opining on the claim.

It is always a good idea to get a copy of your VA med recs and keep that copy current.

This way if you file a claim and it is denied due to a negative report from the C & P examiner, or they have ognored probative medical evidence. you have options ,at that point to fight the claim.

[bojack]

Thank you

[TiredCoastie]

The VA is supposed to pull your VAMC records as part of its pull of medical records across the federal government. My assumption is that this process is one of the more reliable parts of the claims processing system. That said, and seeing as I receive almost all of my care outside of the VA system, I submit all my associated medical records with the claim. If there's something you'd like to highlight with the RO, can't hurt to submit a copy of your VAMC records when you file even though they're supposed to be obtained automatically. By getting a copy of your VAMC records, you'll also know if there any "unexploded ordinance" in there to which you may need to respond. And, as Berta wisely discussed already above, there is a C&P exam after-the-fact review you'll want to make. Besides the "blue button" records download through MyHeatheVet, you can obtain a copy of your records by stopping by the Release of Information Office next time you go in for an appointment. I read somewhere that VAMCs are transitioning from printing paper copies to putting your records on a password protected CD.

Looking back at your old posts, seems like you already submitted a claim back in March, so adding records at this time has the potential to slow your claim down. That will definitely happen if you filed a Fully Developed Claim (FDC). I don't have a lot of experience with how well VAMC records make the journey from the VAMC to the RO, so it's hard for me to say if you should go through the effort to drop records on the RO now or if there's a point at which you should. I think that if something substantial changes, especially in your favor, after your claim goes from the evidence gathering phase into the rating phase that you should submit those records at that time. It's better to get the claim right the first time, even if that means slowing it down, rather than go through the appeals process later if you can positively influence the decision with something new and substantial. The difference at this point is between months to a year plus for the claim versus multiple years for the appeal.

Can anyone else who gets more care than me through a VAMC help out this vet?

Edited June 2, 2014 by TiredCoastie

[Pete53]

I found that unless I gave the VARO copies of my VA Medical Records they never looked at it nor was it in my file after I had filed for service connection.

So if VA Medical Records support your claim I suggest that you copy it and ask VARO to include it in your claim for benefits