How To Read Your Electronic (Cd)

[vern2]

I had some questions as to how to read and search my 1800+ pages of the CD that was mailed to me by the VARMC, St. Louis.

I contacted a management analyst and she forward my question to Mr. Herbert, Director. I have copied and pasted his reply. Please do not bombard him with phone calls. His email is derek.herbert@va.gov. The questions I asked are in BOLD.

On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 3:25 PM, Herbert, Derek, VBAVACO wrote:

Good afternoon MrXXXX

I’ve attempted to answer your questions below:

1. What does it mean for example: 16:33, CDT 04/23/2013 # 30785861 Submitted Electronically , at top of page?

a. This watermark reflects the time and date that the material was received within the system and denotes an electronic submission, such as eBenefits.

b. In this example the document was received at 4:33PM (CDT) on 04/23/2013 via eBenefits.

2. Notice that most of the pages have the notation " copy made by VARME St. Louis from a record in VA's possession" Does this mean copied from my old c-file ?

a. Although difficult to see, the notation is, “COPY MADE BY VARMC ST LOUIS FROM A RECORD IN VA’S POSSESSION”.

b. This watermark indicates that the material was copied by personnel at the VA Records Management Center in St. Louis, MO, prior to submission. Typically, material maintained at the Records Management Center consists of the claim file, the service treatment record, and/or the Official Military Personnel File.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Very respectfully,

Derek L. Herbert

Acting Chief, Contracted Operations

Veterans Benefits Administration

Office of Business Process Integration (20C)

Veterans Claims Intake Program

Office: 202-461-9606

Mobile: 202-329-8673 Fax: 202-461-9331

I still have questions about the electronic file, as mine has 15+ pages of unreadable data. I have asked Mr. Herbert why was this not re-scanned or attempt to contact me for better copy or let me know what was not copied. Still waiting on reply.

This electronic record will be even more critical in future as I noticed in my recent C & P exam that NO C-FILE was used, just the electronic records. It appears that this is way forward for the VARO. This is noted on the exam notes as well. I am concerned as scanning what we submit and also what we submit electronically, either via fax or uploads to eBenefits is even more critical. I am trying to search and see what was not properly scanned but this may be almost impossible task (1800+ pages).

I have a pending CUE in due to VARO not using what I had uploaded in 2013 via eBenefits to decide my claim. The VARO has already admitted that they made mistakes in my claim. I have used PC-FAX to send some documents to Newnan Intake Center, but at same time, send them via eBenefits. i still used certified mail for some things as well. Trying to cover all bases:)

[vern2]

I forgot to mention. The Control F function is not needed if you have Adobe Reader DC (document cloud). Just click on the magnifying glass icon at top of page and type in the name that you are searching in the box that opens up will come up will many different pages. Great feature! This tool is free, suggest that you download and use it for searching the electronic CD of your claims file. Works great for me. This is same tool that the C & P personnel and VARO personnel are using. It is not foolproof, as tried a doctors name and came up blank. Not sure why. Tried Kittle, then Doctor Kittle, then Jeffrey L. Kittle, but all came up blank. He is the doctor that just did my last C & P exam. Hmm , oh crap, forgot he did exam AFTER the CD was created. Must be getting old I am 67.

[GuaymasJim]

Vern, I think the nightmare is just beginning! You might want to read some of my other posts about the paper to digital c-file conversion. Please see the PM I am about ready to send you.

[vern2]

Vern, I think the nightmare is just beginning! You might want to read some of my other posts about the paper to digital c-file conversion. Please see the PM I am about ready to send you.

yes, got your PM, but many Vets may not be able to afford this expensive software. The Adobe Reader DC will allow the vet to search through the thousands of pages that were scanned into VBMS. The problem as with much of VA is critical to get proper scanned documents into the electronic file. In my case I have about 20 pages out of almost 2000+ pages that were not scanned properly. Want to bet that they are key to my claim? I have asked for response to my question as to why not re-scan or let me know what was not scanned. This is contract operations at Newnan, GA VA Intake Center in my case. I foresee the same nightmare that we now have with paper C-files, as my electronic file has another vets records scanned into it.