Fully Developed Claim

[Andyman73]

If I submit a FDC, and all the evidence is already in the VA's system, and/or in my SMR. Do I need to send copies of those reports as evidence? What about an MRI done while on Active Duty? Would they have access to that as well?

Semper Fi.

[georgiapapa]

Andy,

I see no reason not to send them out in one mailing. You might want to send along a table of contents and tab each report. JMO

Good luck.

GP

[Navy4life]

Andy,

Can you submit online? I submitted my FDC online in Feb 15 and I clicked the "decide my claim" button just a few weeks ago.

Remember you must submit all documents at ONE time for an FDC claim. If you submit additional documents after submitting your claim will go from an FDC to a traditional. Keep in mind if the VA asks for documents from you that does not hinder your FDC claim

Agree with the above posters SUBMIT all you can! You are your best advocate for you claim!!!

Take Care

Steph

[rootbeer22]

Folks:

One thing I have learned above all else is that you have to take care of yourself when it comes to your service medical records. Frankly, it's very far from a perfect system in terms of getting the Vets service medical records in front of a Vba Rater to adjudicate. So, like everyone else's advice, if you can load up your records at Ebenefits then do so and at least there will be a record of them? In many cases, I've heard people say it's important to ensure that your have a return receipt from mail or a signature...but even then...it's not a guarantee?The only way to confirm that "all" of your records made it to be reviewed is to do a FOIA once you believe that everything have been turned in properly. But just keep in mind that there's a very high probability that once you do a FOIA that your claim will be pulled out of processing until the FOIA is completed. Some ROs do it in a reasonable amount of time but most do not? By law, they have 20 business days to fulfill your request but few ROs ever make this timeline. Some have reported over a year in some cases to get the FOIA for their c-file completed so it' s probably going to delay a claim to verify the information that you need. But at least you'll be able confirm that in fact, your records were at least considered for your claim...and not lost or missing somewhere. That just happened to me despite at lot of extra effort to do the right things. So, my FDC claim has been in the Pending Decision Approval Stage now for almost a month and I have absolutely no idea if all of my evidence made it for the claim? In perfect conditions, my hard copy claims submission should have been digitized when I first submitted it but no one can confirm if that ever happened...despite a road trip to the RO to sort it out? But, at the end of the day, you can't ever expect to the "system" is going to fully do what it's been advertised to do with respect to our service medical records...

[Andyman73]

Steph,

I'll try to scan and attach, but my tech kung fu is weak. I've managed to bluff my way this far using eBnefits.

Semper Fi

As for the rest of you motley bunch...thanks for the advice.

Semper Fi

Andy

[Gastone]

If you haven't already done so, start your FDC on your E Ben Claim site. This will establish your filing date just by starting to complete the claim form. Then gather all your Medical evidence and arrange it so when you scan it and attach it to your claim, the pdf's are in an understandable order. You have to help the VA Rater all you can. When and if you master the scanning and attaching to your claim document, do it.

One other thing you could do. If all your Medical records are in your VA Hospital Records, have the Record Dept burn them to a CD in the order you need for your FDC. If I went that route, I'd hand deliver the Claim and CD to your VARO. I know the VA changed its policy regarding location to send claims evidence, etc. But I'd give it a try. Then there are always the VSO offices located at your VARO. You could go into any of them, irregardless of if they REP you and have them complete your FDC along with PDF Scans and submit it for you while you're there.

Semper Fi

Gastone

[Navy4life]

Steph,

I'll try to scan and attach, but my tech kung fu is weak. I've managed to bluff my way this far using eBnefits.

Semper Fi

As for the rest of you motley bunch...thanks for the advice.

Semper Fi

Andy

Let me know if you need assistance...I am pretty computer literate LOL.... I only use Ebennies :)