New Rule About C&p Results Viewing?

[Opiate73]

VA Moves to Prevent Veteran Violence Over Disability Claims To curtail confusion, the department wants to change when veterans can view the results of their disability exam online.

BY JORDAIN CARNEY

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Information from the exam would be available online after a disability decision has been made.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

October 21, 2014 Veterans Affairs officials want to change when veterans can view some of their medical records online, fearing that some could become violent if they see negative comments and think their disability claims will be denied.

Veterans must get a medical exam as part of the process for filing a disability claim for a service-related injury. Within days or weeks of the exam, veterans can see the doctor's forms or notes by using the "Blue Button" on My HealtheVet, the VA's website for health records.

A group of department officials said Monday that they fear some veterans could see the notes from the exam, assume from this partial picture that their claim is being denied, and take out their anger on local VA officials. They voiced their safety concerns Monday to members of the department's Advisory Committee on Disability Compensation at their meeting this week in Washington.

"He walks past the [compensation-and-pension] clinic, and he's very angry. Goes into the C-and-P clinic, and we have an incident of some kind," said Gerald Cross, the chief officer in the Veterans Health Administration's office of disability and medical assessment. "Some of our C-and-P clinics are quite small, … and it doesn't have much in the way of reasonable defense. We're very concerned about that."

Patricia Murray, the director of the VA's clinical program and administrative operations, said that to try to prevent any misunderstandings, the VA is removing the compensation-and-pension medical exam from a veteran's online health record until after a decision on his or her disability claim has been made.

"I think sometimes when they see [the medical records], they think the determination to grant [benefits] is solely based on the C-and-P file," she said, adding that "our examiners feel like they're sometimes at risk."

But some committee members were concerned about removing the compensation-and-pension exam records, but not other health documents, from the website.

"I hate to say this, but what is the ethical justification of removing the C-and-P exams from the Blue Button?" asked Michael Simberkoff, executive chief of staff at the VA's NY Harbor Healthcare System.

But department officials tied the move to one factor: Potential risk to VA staffers. In addition to changing when a veteran can see part of his or her file online, they are also considering adding extra security to the clinics, such as requiring a code to unlock doors.

"Many of the C-and-P docs are females, and they seem to be the ones that seem to have the evening hours or are in these far-flung [clinics]," said Denny Devine, the VA's project executive for disability and medical assessments. "Those are the ones on our weekly calls raising these concerns."

The VA received more than 1 million requests for disability exams during fiscal 2014. It has almost 527,500 pay and pension claims currently waiting to be decided, with more than 46 percent—or 244,727—waiting more than 125 days for a decision.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/defense/va-moves-to-prevent-veteran-violence-over-disability-claims-20141021

Edited October 21, 2014 by Opiate73

[Chuck75]

"She" sounds like an examiner. Anyway, the VAMC insurance/patient records should have a copy in your files. You have every legal right to see and obtain that information, once you fill out the form to do so.

[justrluk]

Transparency in the claims and healthcare process is the only way this system will improve. If we can't see the problems, we can't help fix them.

[Notorious Kelly]

Agreed- the VA is like the CIA in keeping incidents on campus hush-hush and no view into what's going on- this leads to mistrust and hostility.

Their fear of veterans is caused by their own outdated juggernaut condescending bureaucracy of inefficiency and waste.

I want streaming web cams on rater's areas to see that they are working. There is no excuse for the process length and delays causing grief to so many and undoubtedly more than a few deaths.

Is there even a non-violent solution to this? If there is, why isn't it being done.

[iceturkee]

guess i am in the minority here but i don't think you should see your c&p exam until after adjudication. my local va clinic stopped releasing early because vets were calling the examiners bitching about their notes. the time to bitch is later.

and truthfully i have been able to predict the outcome of my exams without seeing the notes. an astute person should be able to read the doctor, based on what he/she is asking and/or saying.

[Buck52]

I don't see how they can do this legally? Guess they have there own laws?

if they do, the Veteran can go to his VAMC and get copies of the C&P or any medical exam, I think everything the VA Does is in the computer, if its not there then how can they explain that in a federal court of law?

if there afraid that vets get mad and want to kick butt all they need to do is get security! probably some vet raised his voice at some medical exiamer and that is what bought this all about. its getting where all veterans are going to have to start listening very carefully to everything that is said to them during a C&P.

Maybe they just want to make the veteran even more pissed by doing this and make it harder to win him/her claim?

[broncovet]

No. More Good Vets are killed by a bad VA system, than bad vets killing VA employees. Its much much much safer to be a VA employee than to be a Veteran trying to get health care!!! FACT!!

Nobody says a thing anymore about the 22 vets per day that take their own life, and rarely ever talk about the VA killing at least 200 vets by making them wait months for an appointment, fraudunently, in JUST ONE VAMC. Remember, if fraud and corruption occurs in ONE VAMC it almost always occurs in more than one.