Bva Decision Made, When Will % Update Happen?

[FMFDoc77]

BVA made a decision on my appeals that date back to 1/09/09. Mostly remands but they did grant chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and stated that the Regional Office (RO) would decide the percentage and effective date. My question is how long do you think this process will take? I just received my decision letter from the BVA on 2/25/15. According to FL 10-02 they are suppose to process the granted claims without delay. My RO is the Muskogee RO and they seem to do everything bass ackwards so I doubt they comply with FL 10-02. Anyhow I know this answer varies but when do you think it is normal time to expect some changes in my percentage and the back pay?

[Navy04]

Great news on the win and movement of the claim. You should know something within the next 30 days or so, I would figure. Good luck

[Gastone]

Unless the VA has really got on the stick, you'll have Retro $$ before you see the Award. Think about having your Direct Deposit Bank or CU start Txting and Emailing you of all transactions, been doing it for couple yrs and it works great for me. Had a txt from my bank about a week before I received the VA Award Envelope. This is only true if a partial award is granted and paid before your Remanded issues are cleared. Never been there, all my issues awarded at DRO Hearing Level.

The VA may have some special new program as far as updating your E-Ben site. A number of Vets have posted regarding being able to get almost real time info off their Sites. As of yesterday my E-Ben Site has no updated Award Info from my 06/14 Dro Award of IU. Maybe I'm in the E-Ben Twilight Zone, will be interesting to see how you fare.

Semper Fi

Gastone

[FormerMember]

Make sure you read the BVA decision carefully. When remanded for an action item, such as associating the SSI records with the c-file and reviewing them, which the RO knows full well should have been done before the Form 8 was completed sending them to DC, there is a codicil saying RFN or "as expeditiously as possible”. This is true for remands.

This claim must be afforded expeditious treatment. The law requires that all claims that are remanded by the Board of Veterans' Appeals or by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for additional development or other appropriate action must be handled in an expeditious manner. See 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5109B, 7112 (West Supp. 2014).

Now, look again at your BVA win and remand for a rating. Nada.

If, and only if, you just won the lotto like I did, or got a 100% /TDIU after a long, drawn out six or seven-year battle, will you get a prompt rating in short order. A grant from the BVA has no terminology sending it back to the RO on afterburner. There are several things that may change the story. If your RO and claim are out of Sioux Falls Medicine Trail Coulee Memorial Veterans Service Center, it could happen in as few as two weeks after BVA returns the c-file. If Oakland, perhaps 65 -125 days after receipt. Speeds of remands for Initial ratings are moved up in the lineup but it's a triage game. Homeless first, financial/medical/old age consideration second, claims longest in the queue third, and your remanded grant in fourth. Seems there's a new Call Bob or Allison line that is forming up, too.

If they have a good run of easy denials in the third queue, it leaves them time to usher your 20% for Diabetes 2, 30% for sleep apnea and the 10% for tinnitus through a quick low ball process just to clear the decks faster. They know you'll have to NOD it for a higher rating or TDIU. That will constitute another, future decision that they already know the outcome of. I've had seventeen decisions since I reopened in 2007 with four in the last week and two more today. Each one is a “task”. Granting a tombstone and a flag for burial has an equal “task” code attached to it. Issuing a Form 8 to certify a claim is the same task value. A claim remanded, without a pressing triage impetus, is taken care of in a more relaxed mode than what we hope would be a RFN DEFCON 2.

My CAVC remand to comply came out April 23, 2013. The BVA played with it for seven months until November 21^st. The AMC whipped it out December 10^th but forgot the other ratings and the SMC. VA finally rounded up ten signatures and it hit the bank January 28^th, 2014. I’m just now getting it cleaned up with the Writ. Simply put, depending on the RO, the workload, the willingness of raters, the size/age of the grant and Murphy’s law, your claim is out, rated and funded on different time paths that are not similarly measurable. If you had an older claim that you had signed off on with a waiver to nail it down at the BVA, it will almost always be rated at the AMC right around the corner from the BVA.

​The Regional Offices are in high gear denying claims now in order to meet the 125 day process @ 98% accuracy USB Hickey promised in 2015. This simply shifts the backlog to the BVA. They know it but have their marching orders. Some are starting to rebel and speak up. The repair order is to farm it out to 3M or IBM until they get caught up but they refuse to let anyone into the process because it would reveal the truth and a lot of Vets would suddenly arrive with their hands out after a fair, independent review. If you're running a crooked roulette wheel, you can't let anyone else set up a casino in town. The cowboys might get wise to it.

Edited March 3, 2015 by asknod (see edit history)